NATIONAL NEWS - A pack of dogs fresh off the plane from Texas have already apprehended their first poaching suspect.

On Saturday, the first of 10 new counter-poaching dogs arrived at the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) from Texas. During their first live track earlier on Friday, they exceeded expectations and managed to apprehend the suspected poacher.

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These specially trained, free-running pack dogs are joining a highly motivated K9 Unit at the SAWC.

Once settled and accustomed to their new handlers, they will be deployed in counter-poaching operations in the Greater Kruger area.

“We are incredibly excited to be working with these dogs. Our early successes with free-running pack dogs have shown us how effective they are in the field. These dogs are also trained in apprehension work and will actively help rangers stop poachers in their tracks,” said the college CEO, Theresa Sowry.

While on-leash tracker dogs are commonly used by counter-poaching teams, pack dogs that run off-leash are relatively new to the scene, but are already proving their worth. They can track at high speeds over even the most difficult terrain. Recent exercises have seen them cover 30 kilometres in two hours.

Read more on the Caxton publication, The Citizen.