Gran Canaria has a problem with the Californian snakesone that has lasted for several decades and is proving especially serious in environmental terms. So its authorities have decided to deploy canine patrols. It sounds strange, but we already know: to desperate problems, imaginative solutions. And on the island they have trusted the sense of smell of their dogs.

In front of the snakes, dogs. In the Canary Islands, the dog is not only man’s best friend. There is also a valuable ally facing one of the great environmental challenges of the archipelago: stopping the expansion of the California king snake (Lampropeltis californiae), better known as the “Californian snake”, a invasive species native to certain regions of America and which has been under the spotlight of the authorities for years.

To reduce its proliferation specifically in Gran Canaria and prevent the snake from destroying the native species that serve as prey, the authorities have launched control campaigns, including the ambitious #Stopculebrareal. They have several tools at their disposal. For example, there is the app which allows neighbors to send a warning every time they detect a snake near their homes. And there are also the patrols with trained dogs.

Where man does not reach… The dogs arrive with their sense of smell. California kingsnakes are not only a challenge because how they have expanded around the island thanks to the climate, the prey and the lack of predators that have been found there. One of the great challenges they pose is that it is not easy to locate them. They spend a good part of their lives hidden underground, so experts have to take advantage of the few months —from mid-March to mid-July—during which they are most active.

Trained dogs, however, have an advantage: their powerful sense of smell. Every time they detect a snake they mark the area where it is hiding. “We train them so that they are able to find the right spot and not get carried away by the feces that the snakes may have left in their path,” explains to the newspaper The Provinces Sara Ordoñez, trainer.

A strategy with history. The use of canine units trained to detect snakes is not new. Its origin dates back to several yearsalthough the Canarian authorities have wanted put it into value now, along with other initiatives, during the day ‘Disclose to preserve’. The #Stopculebrareal website itself includes a report with the pilot experience carried out between 2013 and 2014 precisely to control California snake populations with trained animals.

New signings. That experience must have been positive because in March of last year the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Gran Canaria presented, with press release including the signing of two new “agents” specialized in the fight against invasive species: Russel and Mamba. The first is a belgian malinois. The second, a crossing of Labrador and golden retriever.

According to then detailed the insular Government, the dogs were in charge of tracking the merchandise that was unloaded in Mercalaspalmasthe large logistics center for agricultural products in Gran Canaria, to prevent the arrival of invasive species. During their training they were also prepared to detect, above all, four species that “they threaten biodiversity” of the archipelago: the royal python, the Moorish squirrelhe Yemen chameleon and the California snake. Your success rate, about 95%.

A few days ago the newspaper Canary7explained that Mamba and Russel have been joined by two other canine agents: Goku and Dubai, which has allowed the unit to be reinforced. In May The residents of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria were able to see their skills firsthand. After being alerted to the presence of a California snake in the gardens of the Reina Mercedes urbanization, #Stopculebrareal specialists dedicated themselves to combing the area accompanied by Russel to identify its trail.

Thousands of snakes “hunted”. Since 2007 #Stopculebrareal estimates that they have been captured 18,764 king snakes of California on the island of Gran Canaria, although that is the global count, in which the reptiles hunted with different strategies are added. Of them, 8,945 were located thanks to citizen help and 9,819 correspond to what the authorities call “direct captures”, which are the result of searches with field crews or traps. In 2024, around 2,000 retired.

Of course not all of them were found with dogs. In fact, the statistics of #Stopculebrareal show that direct captures with trained animals represent a low percentage. Most are hunted manually or with the help of traps.

Is the problem so serious? Of the California kingsnake and the enormous headache that it represents for the Canarian authorities, we tell you not long ago. They are docile reptiles, but they have a voracious appetite and their island menu usually includes the giant lizard (Gallotia stehlini) and the skink (Chalcides sexlineatus), which have seen their population decline.

“Invasive snakes represent a serious threat to island biodiversity, as they are responsible for far-reaching impacts that are notably understudied, especially with respect to native reptiles,” it warned. a study published in 2021 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B and which focused on the expansion of the snake in Gran Canaria.

The presence of the Lampropelties californiae in the region it dates back a few years, thanks largely to the popularity it once had as a pet. The first records they date back to 1998 and in 2007 it was already adapted to the east of the island.

Images | Government of the Canary Islands, Dana L. Brown (Flickr) and Gilaman (Flickr)

Via | The Spanish Newspaper