Newest Champion in Fight Against Spotted Lanternfly: Lucky the Egg-Sniffing Dog
The fight against the spotted lanternfly has found its newest champion in Lucky the German Shepherd, according to a report from NorthCentralPA.com.
Lucky is the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s first spotted lanternfly-detecting dog.
She has been trained by University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine to locate spotted lanternfly egg masses. These can then be neutralized before the pests hatch and start destroying the plant life.
Spotted lanternflies lay clusters of up to 50 eggs per pair in fall, and these eggs are not always that easy to locate. So far, even extensive public education campaigns have had a limited impact on reducing the insects’ number.
Lucky’s education is part of a pilot program funded by the USDA. The aim of the program is to train Lucky and other dogs like her to use their superior sense of smell to find what human eyes can easily miss.
The preliminary testing has proven to be a success, and Lucky and her cohorts are already working with their human partners on inspecting vehicles and buildings to prevent the further spread of spotted lanternfly.
Read more about Lucky at NorthCentralPA.com by clicking here.
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