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DELINEATING TOXIC AREAS BY CANINE OLFACTION
Citation:
Arner, L., G. Johnson, AND H. Skovronek. DELINEATING TOXIC AREAS BY CANINE OLFACTION. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/2-85/089.
Description:
A research project was undertaken to learn how the highly acute olfactory sensitivity of the canine could be applied with advantage to environmental problems. The objectives were to determine how dogs could be trained to detect hazardous and toxic pollutants in the environment and how the dogs' responses could be used by environmental workers to improve sampling efficiency and to help delineate contaminated sites that might be encountered in spills and improper disposal incidents. Dogs were trained to recognize and locate chemicals selected from the toxic and hazardous chemical lists. Another dog was trained to respond upon detection of chemical scents at extremely low airborne concentrations such as those that might exist at the outer perimeter of a disposal site. Throughout the project, the safety and health of both dog and handler were carefully considered. Over a relatively short period, two dogs were successfully trained to recognize toluene, 2,4,5- and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol at levels that could not be detected as quickly or efficiently using conventional field instrumentation. These dogs were trained to seek out and retrieve chemically contaminated articles or to dig at the site of a simulated ground contamination. In a field experiment, both dogs successfully demonstrated their ability by locating as little as 0.2 g of chemical from distances as great as 50 ft. A third dog was acclimated to another chemical, 1,2,3-trichloropropane, to prepare for a field test at a nearby Superfund site contaminated with the material. The dog was trained to sit immediately when he detected the specified odor. The technique demonstrated that the dog could delineate the perimeter of a contaminated area without entering the dangerous zone defined by conventional instrumentation. A field experiment at the Superfund site was carried out under extremely adverse weather conditions, it provided encouraging but inconclusive results.