Smudge is a rescue dog trained to follow the scent of Koalas. He is one of many dogs that have been deployed to Australia’s Blue Mountains World Heritage Region.
Smudge is in this area sniffing out koalas who might have survived the recent fires that devastated areas of Australia.
"One of the challenges we face in the Blue Mountains area is that they're really difficult habitats to survey for koalas.” Kellie Leigh of the San Diego Zoo said. “So the trees could be really big. The canopy can be really dense, and you can't see them by looking.”
She also said that although they have tried many methods to survey the area, the most effective is using detection dogs.
Researchers supported by San Diego Zoo Global are helping with the rescue efforts in Australia.
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