Canines for Felines

A special contest has been announced for the wildlife sniffer dog squads in India to celebrate their contribution towards curbing tiger poaching and illegal trade on the Global Tiger Day, 29 July 2019. The contest titled “Canines for Felines” is being organized by TRAFFIC India and WWF-India with a purpose to acknowledge and bring visibility to the wildlife sniffer dog squads who work tirelessly to curb crime related to tigers in India.
 
The contest is open to all wildlife sniffer dog squads trained under TRAFFIC’s programme and currently deployed by the forest departments across the country. TRAFFIC encourages forest departments to participate and send in their nominations highlighting the contribution of the wildlife sniffer dog squads deployed by their department for curbing tiger poaching and illegal trade. The results will be announced on the eve of Global Tiger Day, and the prizes and certificates both for the wildlife sniffer dog squad and the deploying forest department will be sent to the concerned department.
 

Criteria for entering the contest “Canines for Felines”: The participating wildlife sniffer dog squad should have been trained under TRAFFIC’s programme in India and should be currently under active deployment. The wildlife sniffer dog should have helped to solve at least one tiger poaching/crime related case including tracking poachers, or helping in conducting seizure of tiger parts and derivatives.  Process for Participation: Download the entry form  here. In the form, please provide all details about the tiger cases that the wildlife sniffer dog squad has been involved with- location and outcome as specified in the entry form. All entries to be received by 30 June 2019 at TRAFFIC India Office in New Delhi. Results will be announced on the eve of the Global Tiger Day on TRAFFIC India and WWF-India website and also on its social media chapters.  Criteria for selection of the Winner and First Runners Up : The winners will be selected solely on the basis of number of tiger cases undertaken by the wildlife sniffer dog squad since its deployment. For the purpose of determining the winners, one tiger case here will refer to one wildlife seizure related to tiger parts and derivatives or, one incidence of curbing tiger poaching including tracking tiger poachers. The number of tiger parts seized during a case will not influence this result which will be only on the basis of number of tiger cases.    Entries: Contest will help choose a Winner and a First Runners Up. Through this contest, we will also give away a special prize to a wildlife sniffer dog squad who may have done lesser number of tiger cases but had made a huge impact for curbing tiger poaching and illegal trade in his area of deployment. The jury comprising of TRAFFIC and WWF-India staff will choose this based on the information shared by the concerned forest department. Here we will consider each case and its impact in terms of number of tigers involved and number of tiger parts and derivatives seized in each case.  Prizes: Winner: Camera or a phone for a price upto 10,000 INR to each handler of the wildlife sniffer dog squad along with a certificate. Certificate to the forest department and products/food/accessories or any other requirement worth 20,000 INR for the welfare of the wildlife sniffer dog as requested by the department. First runners up: Camera or a phone for a price upto 7000 INR to each handler of the wildlife sniffer dog squad along with a certificate. Certificate to the forest department and products/food/accessories or any other requirement worth 15,000 INR for the welfare of the wildlife sniffer dog as requested by the department. Special Prize: Camera or a phone for a price upto 7000 INR to each handler of the wildlife sniffer dog along with a certificate. Certificate to the forest department and products/food/accessories or any other requirement worth 15,000 INR for the welfare of the wildlife sniffer dog as requested by the department.