STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Currant is an alumae of the Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley. And she’s being pressed into very important work.

Adopted from the local animal shelter last fall, she’s being trained to use her extraordinary sense of smell to sniff out noxious weeds that may escape detection, poachers and even the scat of rare gorillas so scientists can find them to study them.

Only one in a thousand dogs makes the cut for this kind of work with Working Dog for Conservation.

You can learn about Currant’s mission and watch Tobias—another Working Dog for Conservation—demonstrate his detection skills when Working Dogs for Conservation hold a free presentation at the Community Campus in Hailey.

The presentation, which starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 3, is being presented by the Environmental Resource Center and College of Southern Idaho as part of the ERC’s Spring Science Series presentations. The ERC takes scientists from a variety of organizations into classrooms around the valley during the presentations.

Pete Coppolillo, executive director of WD4C, will give an update on Currant’s training, screen a segment from a PBS video and lead the dog demonstration at Wednesday’s presentation.

For more information about Working Dogs for Conservation, visit www.WD4C.org or contact Pete@WD4C.org.