Emma Bennett - Elmoby Ecology
PhD with Monash University
Clients include: Zoos Victoria, Gold wind, Pacific Hydro, Tilt Renewables, SMEC
Available to consult for:
- Evaluating the field performance of working scent dogs within a conservation setting (existing and new dogs)
- Assisting ecologists and land managers to integrate detection dogs within their survey programs
- Providing complete support for the monitoring and evaluation of wind and wildlife impacts at wind farms.
I have worked with conservation detection dogs since 2005 beginning as a handler with my dog Elmo looking for birds and bats at wind farms. I have since moved into a management and research role with particular specialities in the use of dogs at wind farms and the evaluation and integration of dogs as research tool for rare and threatened species. I am currently developing tools to assist managers in evaluating field performance of scent dogs so that a realistic and relevant understanding of detection performance can help to inform management decisions, particularly in threatened and invasive species management.
Elmo was Australia’s first wind farm detection dog. It has been demonstrated that dogs are the most effective tool for wind farm mortality surveys and Australia now leads the world in the use of dogs to survey bird and bat impacts at wind farms.