Tracking Poachers with K9s | Beer:30

This episode features Colin Patrick, a seasoned reserve manager and canine training expert, as he illuminates the vital partnership between humans and dogs in the fight against poaching. From his early days of visual tracking to the integration of highly trained canines, Colin shares how this collaboration has become essential in navigating the deceptive tactics of poachers. 

Discover how the canine's exceptional sense of smell complements the human tracker's observation skills and how technology like drones works in tandem with boots (and paws!) on the ground. Colin provides compelling stories and insights into the selection, training, and deployment of these remarkable canine units. 

Tune in to understand the intricate dance between human intellect, canine instinct, and the urgency of conservation. 

Transcript

Tanner Denton (00:57.23)
Welcome to another episode of Beer 30 brought to you by UF Pro. I am your host Tanner Denton. And today we are joined by Colin Patrick, founder of Colbeck canine and Colin Patrick training. Colin, thank you so much for being here and taking the time out of your day. I hope you're doing well. How's it going?

Colin Patrick (01:16.859)
Yeah, very good. Thanks for having me and yeah, good that we're be chatting about dogs.

Tanner Denton (01:21.666)
Yeah, absolutely. So how about you tell me and the listeners a little bit about your experience and how you got involved with canine training itself.

Colin Patrick (01:34.235)
Yeah, so basically I'm originally from Zimbabwe, but I've lived in South Africa since the early 80s. And after leaving school, it was a passion to work in the bush, bush being in the environment. And so what I basically did is I studied agriculture at first and then went into conservation and started working in the bush. And that was in around about 1993. And I've had the privilege over the years to be involved in a number of

aspects with regards to conservation. Generally the management and then in the anti-poaching units and that's how I basically got started. I've always loved tracking so tracking was just a natural sort of avenue for me and went into the anti-poaching units and tracking and in those days we didn't really use canines we were visually tracking so we would literally go and find the tracks and follow up on poachers and or animals that were injured and things like that.

Probably in the last 15 years we've started using canine and it almost was by mistake. I've always loved dogs I've always had dogs around me and it sort of flowed into a natural sort of flow into what a profession if you want to call it as as the tactics of poachers changed poachers started hiding their tracks started to be more deceptive in how they move through the bush it sort of forced us to look at other avenues on how to

conduct follow-up operations and that's where the dogs came into the fore. So yeah, about 15 years ago was basically when I started it.

Tanner Denton (03:05.366)
Okay. So what really inspired you to want to go into anti poaching efforts?

Colin Patrick (03:14.615)
It's one of the ways that you can be in the bush most of the time. an anti-proaching ranger is somebody that spends most of their time in the bush. I'm not a very office or admin based person, so the more time I spend in the bush, the better. It's almost like an excuse. And basically, I'll be honest, I like the pursuit side of things, the exhilaration of pursuing another human being through the bush in this environment.

Tanner Denton (03:18.848)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (03:32.696)
Yeah.

Colin Patrick (03:44.539)
for a good thing, know, for a purpose of saving and protecting this environment. And it is something that has been in our industry for years and years and unfortunately in the last 10-15 years it's become more relevant to be able to protect our environment in different forms and in this form it's protecting them against poachers and I love what I do so and I love training people in doing that because of the privilege I've had to gain the experience over the years.

Tanner Denton (04:15.244)
Yeah, good. That's awesome. I'm a big outdoors guy as well. So it's great that you found an area that you're able to work, but it's not necessarily something that you think of as a job. It's more of something you just love doing. So that's awesome. Speaking of what you actually do. So tell me a little bit about your organization. So Colbeck canine and Colin Patrick training. What's the mission, your goals and the impact of what you actually do?

Colin Patrick (04:44.411)
Yeah, so from a designation point of view, I'm a reserve manager. So I oversee a reserve in South Africa, a game reserve. then basically also about probably about 15 years ago, a need developed in the expertise of tracking and then how to train people how to track. so I moved in that role. So...

Like I said, around about 15 years ago, I started developing a program, a man tracking program, an official program on how to train a person to track a person, added to that an accreditation process. So giving basically recognition for somebody that has the ability to track a man, and then develop various training programs with regards to that. So that's my main aspect that I do. We then later developed, according to the need,

the ability to work with canines. So at the moment most of your canine operations are in conjunction with the anti-poaching unit. You don't really find them separate. Most anti-poaching units will always have an aspect of canine involved because of the effectiveness of it. So I have the privilege of traveling all over Africa, actually all over the world, but mainly in Africa and gaining experience. So I do what I call operational training. So that means I have a

a contractor agreement with the organization that I train with, that I will be operational with their rangers on the ground and in so doing I'm able to remain current with what the current requirements are. So what is happening on the ground and then I relate that to the training that we then conduct. And we then also have a look at aspects on how we're to develop further and then prepare rangers accordingly.

That's basically our mission, is if we can give back to conservation and training, but obviously it's also a way of generating income, but it's like what you said earlier, I love what I do and I actually get to work and do what I love. I don't think there's many people that have that opportunity.

Tanner Denton (06:56.726)
Yeah. So Boris was on a while back and we actually talked about canines versus as you know, technologies is becoming a big thing nowadays versus drones and thermal devices and stuff like that. Why are dogs such an essential part of conservation efforts in terms of using them as opposed to even humans or technology?

Colin Patrick (07:25.551)
Yeah, so the first thing that I'll say to you is the way I explain it to a ranger is first of all, if I go and track a buffalo, for example, it's what I call a one person sport. So it's me tracking a buffalo and figuring out where the buffalo is going, where I see the signs of that buffalo as it's moving along. I've got to be aware of how far the buffalo is ahead of me, other potentially dangerous animals around me. When we track human beings, man tracking or what we call tactical tracking,

It's generally a team sport. So what we're doing is we're basically taking the elements that are needed and we're dividing it amongst the team. So you've got somebody that tracks. If you add a canine to it, you've got a canine that tracks, a handler that interprets the canine. Then you've got support. We've got what we call scouts or flanks, and those guys act as a security role. And then you've got somebody that handles the communication and the navigation aspect. Now what I'm trying to say there is that

Tanner Denton (07:57.294)
Okay.

Colin Patrick (08:24.269)
In any follow-up operation, in any anti-poaching operation, it's never only one aspect of that operation. There's always a team effort. So the best way to explain it is, it's like having a toolbox. And if you've got to do a repair on your vehicle, you can't have only one spanner, like a 10 spanner. You've got to have a range of spanners to be able to conduct the repair. And it's the same in an anti-poaching operation. So yes, human beings...

visual trackers are very important, but just as important as the canine, but just as important is the support team or for example, what we call the controller, the person who sits in a control room coordinating the effort, coordinating where the air asset, where the helicopter must go, for example, where the drone must go, where what we call stopper groups, teams that are blocking ahead must go. And so it's like having a toolbox and you've got to decide.

Tanner Denton (09:07.982)
Mm.

Colin Patrick (09:20.983)
at this point in time which is the best tool to use. So what we say is a drone for example, a drone is effective but if you want to make a drone really effective you've got to put the drone in the right place. How do you put the drone in the right place? Well you've got to have people and a canine on the ground that is able to track those suspects, those poachers so that the drone has a locality on where to check as an example and there so

Tanner Denton (09:25.033)
All right.

Colin Patrick (09:49.517)
everything works in conjunction. As soon as you work it in isolation, then the effectiveness starts decreasing.

Tanner Denton (09:57.1)
Wow, yeah, that makes total sense. mean, whenever you break it down to making it like a toolbox, mean, yeah, it doesn't make sense just to have a single wrench. I mean, it's great to have multiple different sizes and different tools in there with it. So yeah, makes total sense. So in terms of canines, go ahead.

Colin Patrick (10:11.769)
Yeah.

Colin Patrick (10:19.097)
No, so with regards to that is what we found is often when we add something to it, there's a primary role of a tool that we use in the secondary role. And for example, a drone, we found is not necessarily, if you've got these massive areas that we work in and you send a drone out there, it's like literally looking for a needle in a haystack. And even with technology like thermal, because of our hot conditions, even deep into the night, we've still got

Tanner Denton (10:41.57)
together.

Colin Patrick (10:48.667)
major heat sources on the ground, which makes it very difficult for the drone operator to actually allocate a human being and then allocate that signature of a human being. But the point being is there's the secondary role. So if you had to ask me, and most of our operations are at night time, when we're working at night time and we're working with the canine, you can imagine the level of danger that goes up. But if we've got an eye in the sky, literally, for example, a drone or a helicopter that's operating under NVG,

That gives us the ease of movement. Now what I mean by ease of movement, if the drone or the helicopter can ascertain to us, for example, that there's a buffalo or a herd of elephants 500 meters ahead of us, it's a major, major safety aspect for us. It gives us major protection. And then we're able to ascertain ahead of what's happening ahead of us. Our safety level is then increased and we're able to make decisions earlier and...

Tanner Denton (11:19.118)
Thank

Colin Patrick (11:48.527)
basically have a more effective operation. So those things link together tremendously. Often though you find is that for the different entities, the tool has a different purpose. So for example, drone is protection for us. For the drone operator, yeah, they obviously want to find the suspect. But they also realize they've got to stay with the canine because the canine is going to tell them where they're going to find their suspect. You see, so it's all interlinked.

Tanner Denton (12:06.766)
All

Tanner Denton (12:12.63)
Yeah. Yeah. So on this is actually just a question that I just had, but do canines whenever they are tracking anything, is it mostly by smell or is it I mean, do you have any idea if it's by smell visual hearing? Is it all three that are equal? mean, or is one more heavy than the other?

Colin Patrick (12:37.253)
Yeah, so predominantly by smell. A canine is using its nose tremendously. In a tactical follow-up operation, in a tactical team, we are relying on the canine to smell and the human beings to observe. The canine obviously does also use its eyesight, in particular when you're coming to what we call close to contact. So on close to contact, the canine will generally indicate, listen, the smell,

There's a very fresh air scent here. There's a proximity. They give what we call a proximity alert. When that happens, operational canines will also then start using their eyes more because they realize contact is close. They've got to also look for these suspects. But predominantly it is smell and then hearing as well. that's one thing that we realized. And I've lived in the bush. I work in the bush. So you do obviously...

Tanner Denton (13:23.106)
Mm-hmm.

Colin Patrick (13:34.639)
get used to operating in the bush. You know how to walk quietly through the bush. You're listening all the time. You're trying to be observant and situationally aware of what's happening around you. But over and over again, we can be in a situation where the canine on average will two to three minutes before we even aware of something the canine is already alerting us to it if we're watching the canine. Either through its smell, hearing or eye.

Tanner Denton (14:25.77)
Tanner Denton (14:59.362)
Wow, okay. So in your canines, do they, the roles that they play, are they generally just around tracking or are they tracking detection, apprehension and deterrence?

Tanner Denton (15:36.046)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (16:36.046)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (17:17.026)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (17:40.461)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (18:38.616)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (18:45.506)
Mm-hmm.

Tanner Denton (20:37.396)
Okay. Do you have any any stories at the top of your head where a canine made like just the critical difference?

Tanner Denton (21:41.816)
Thank

Tanner Denton (22:15.694)
Thank

Tanner Denton (22:33.678)
That's right.

Tanner Denton (23:11.448)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (23:53.731)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (24:37.368)
Mm-hmm.

Tanner Denton (25:04.118)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (25:30.05)
Wow.

Tanner Denton (26:42.104)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (27:32.108)
Yeah, absolutely. So what goes into selecting a specific canine for any any of these missions? I mean, do you you can't just I mean, I can't just select my German Shepherd and be like, All right, let's he's going to be good at this. I mean, or maybe I can't. I don't know. I don't know anything about training or selecting canines for specific things. So yeah, how how do you go about that?

Tanner Denton (28:06.402)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (28:15.224)
Mm. Yeah.

Tanner Denton (29:08.654)
Mm-hmm.

Tanner Denton (29:33.582)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (30:00.567)
Yeah, absolutely.

Tanner Denton (30:16.929)
You

Tanner Denton (30:29.102)
you

Tanner Denton (30:50.286)
you

Tanner Denton (30:56.673)
Awesome.

Tanner Denton (31:05.408)
Okay. Yeah.

Tanner Denton (31:24.247)
You

Tanner Denton (31:47.841)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (31:58.798)
Mm.

Tanner Denton (32:11.584)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (32:34.09)
Okay, so the relationship between the dog and the handler, why is it so crucial to have them actually, I mean, so tight?

Tanner Denton (34:38.755)
Wow.

Tanner Denton (34:44.746)
Yeah, yeah, speedwalking,

Tanner Denton (35:13.837)
Wow.

Tanner Denton (35:18.113)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (36:09.27)
Okay. The what are the differences between training for a tracking or an anti poaching dog versus like a law enforcement or military?

Tanner Denton (37:35.202)
Mm-hmm.

Tanner Denton (38:01.088)
Okay, yeah. What is a typical mission look like for a canine unit that is you guys are in the bush and there's something that you're you have to track or go after? What is what is from start to to end typically look like?

Tanner Denton (38:26.679)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (40:27.202)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (41:30.402)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (42:14.818)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (42:47.15)
Mmm.

Tanner Denton (42:55.308)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (43:36.706)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (43:54.2)
Okay. Yeah.

Tanner Denton (44:06.35)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (44:26.189)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (45:00.054)
Okay, yeah.

Tanner Denton (45:26.316)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (45:50.657)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (46:10.734)
Yeah, yeah.

Tanner Denton (46:55.874)
Mm-hmm.

Tanner Denton (47:00.205)
You

Tanner Denton (47:11.374)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

So how could canine programs be expended to further aid conservation? mean, do you have any ideas or anything that you're trying to work on to expand?

Tanner Denton (48:03.991)
Tanner Denton (48:28.909)
Wow.

Tanner Denton (48:40.398)
Hmm.

Tanner Denton (49:32.78)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (50:14.541)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (50:34.487)
Okay.

Tanner Denton (50:43.469)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (51:07.683)
Yeah.

Tanner Denton (51:21.08)
Cool. To wrap it up, how can people support or get involved in these efforts of expanding canine training and how you use them?

Tanner Denton (52:43.054)
Mm-hmm.

Tanner Denton (52:51.31)
Awesome. Well, Colin, thank you again for donating your time to be on here and educate the or give us a little bit of insight on what goes on in the realm of canine tracking and training and stuff like that. I really appreciate that. And I'm sure the viewers and listeners do as well. And for those of you out there that are listening and watching this, be sure to stay tuned on the UF Pro channels for the next episode of Beer 30.

Awesome.