Meet Leo, the rescue dog helping track koalas in central Queensland. A once-homeless dog is now playing a key role in koala conservation, highlighting the importance of detection dogs in wildlife protection.
Leo's journey began in early 2024, when council rangers picked him up and brought him to the Rockhampton Regional Council pound, as ABC Australia reported. Instead of being overlooked, Leo caught the attention of handler and vet nurse Jacqui Summers, a conservation detection dog trainer who was building a team to support wildlife research.
"I learnt about the importance of conservation and how much dogs can help in terms of being a really effective survey method, going where people can't," Summers said.
With the right mix of energy, play drive, and willingness to work, Leo joined two other detection dogs — Artemis and Skye — in the aptly named team Holy Scat.
These dogs are not your average pets. They're trained in scat detection: sniffing out animal droppings that reveal where target species have been, without disturbing the animals themselves. For elusive and often hard-to-spot creatures such as koalas, scat detection provides a non-intrusive way to gauge population health and distribution.
Koalas can be extremely difficult to locate in the wild because they spend much of their time high in trees and often move only short distances each day, according to ABC Australia. Tracking them this way helps scientists collect DNA and disease data from scats — information that can reveal disease prevalence, stress factors, and habitat use.
Leo's new role is part of a broader koala monitoring program led by CQUniversity's Koala Research Team, in collaboration with CSIRO's National Koala Monitoring Program. Most koala research funding has traditionally focused on southeast Queensland, where populations face intense pressure from habitat loss and disease.
The addition of a detection dog team in central Queensland is relatively new and provides researchers with a powerful tool to fill data gaps in other parts of the state. Detection dogs like Leo work alongside audio equipment, walking surveys, satellite imagery, and community sightings to build a fuller picture of koala populations — critical data for conservation planning across Australia.
What makes this program especially impactful is its science-based, humane approach. The dogs simply locate evidence of koalas, allowing scientists to analyze samples for disease markers and genetic diversity without capturing or stressing the animals. This approach supports both animal welfare and research quality.
Leo's transition from pound dog to conservation partner mirrors the larger challenges and creativity in wildlife science today. As koalas face growing threats — from habitat fragmentation to disease — researchers and communities are tapping into new methods and unexpected allies, such as a determined dog with an extraordinary nose, to help protect one of Australia's most beloved species.
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"The dogs are essential because we, as humans, in that environment — with tall grass, leaf litter, and so forth — would have to spend a lot of time trying to find these scats. Our noses are not as efficient, and our eyesight is not as efficient," Dr. Rolf Schlagloth, part of CQUniversity's Koala Research Team, told ABC Australia.
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