MARINE LECTURE SERIES @ ORKILA CONTINUES!

Tracker Dogs' NW Mission: Saving Killer Whales

Contributed by the SeaDoc Society

We all can picture tracker dogs saving earthquake victims in Haiti, but saving killer whales? Get real!
On the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. Katherine Ayres, a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Washington’s Center for Conservation Biology will explain how and why she is using tracker dogs to save endangered southern resident killer whales. Ayres will speak as part of the 2010 Marine Science Lecture Series at Camp Orkila
Ayres uses whale scat to measure the health of individual whales and to ultimately assess the health of the overall population. But finding whale poop in the wild is not easy. That’s where a trained scat detection dog can be a big help.

Just like tracker dogs that can be trained to detect live people under rubble or cocaine packed inside of a can of gasoline; they too can be trained to detect killer whale feces floating on the water at great distances. Ayers will talk about how detection dogs are being used and what valuable information can be gained from the scat, which unlike blubber biopsies, is collected without impacting already endangered animals.

The Marine Science Lecture Series was created to inspire the general public and to highlight the amazing fish and wildlife of our region. Lectures are free. Please park in the upper parking lot at Camp Orkila. Shuttle service from the parking lot to the talk is available before and after the lecture.

The 2009/10 Marine Science Lecture Series is presented by program partners The SeaDoc Society and YMCA Camp Orkila. It is made possible through generous sponsorship by Tom Averna of Deer Harbor Charters, and The Gould Family Foundation and co-sponsorship by Barbara Brown, Eclipse Charters, The Kingfish Inn, Shearwater Sea Kayak Tours, West Sound Marina and Jim and Kathy Youngren.

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