Four More Sea Shepherd Wildlife-Sniffing Canine Officers Set To Retire, Looking for Homes

Four More Sea Shepherd Wildlife-Sniffing Canine Officers Set To Retire, Looking for Homes

Captain Paul Watson with

Retired Officer Manotas

Photo: Amber Chenoweth / Sea Shepherd Sea Shepherd sees the Galapagos Islands as our line in the sand. If we are unable to protect this diverse ecosystem and UNESCO World Heritage Site, what will be able to protect? As part of our wide-ranging work to defend the Galapagos, Sea Shepherd has worked with canine officers who have been able to sniff out wildlife being illegally trafficked, as well as smuggled shark fins and sea cucumbers. Soon, four of these dogs, now retired, will arrive in Seattle will be looking for foster and permanent homes!

In 2008, Sea Shepherd acquired six police dogs, and along with nine dogs acquired by WildAid and Conservation International, they received training from the Ecuadorian police unit Grupo de Intervención y Rescate (GIR) before arriving in the Galapagos Islands for more training from the environmental police, Unidad de Protección del Medio Ambiente (UPMA). Throughout the islands of the Galapagos, these canine Sea Shepherds have helped to combat wildlife trafficking and the illegal exploitation of marine life in this vital ecosystem. They have enabled law enforcement to apprehend smugglers and confiscate illegal wildlife.

As of 2010, Sea Shepherd has been the only organization caring for the dogs, providing food and veterinary care. Manotas was the first to retire, and was honored with a ceremony in October 2013. He now has a foster home with Sea Shepherd USA Administrative Director Susan Hartland.

As the four dogs now set to retire from their time as Sea Shepherds in the Galapagos and arrive in Seattle, they will be taken in by Lady’s Hope Dog Rescue, a wonderful organization that will help to find them foster homes and forever families. It is preferable that they are fostered first, so that their potential families can get to know them – and vice versa. We hope that they will be able to stay in the Pacific Northwest or at least on the West Coast. Having worked as police dogs, they will need time to adjust to home life, but they are sweet and friendly and will be beloved members of the right families.

The dogs will arrive on May 10^th, and we hope that they will have foster families waiting to love them! If you are able to foster and/or adopt one of these canine Sea Shepherds, please download the application, complete and send it to Lady’s Hope Dog Rescue at info@ladys-hope.org.

Soon, these four dogs, now retired, will arrive in Seattle and will be looking for foster and permanent homes! Photo: Sea Shepherd

Retired Officer Manotas at his new home in Friday Harbor, Wash., looking over the oceans he protected Photo: Amber Chenoweth / Sea Shepherd

Visit our Sea Shepherd Galapagos site for more information.

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