Private-owned defence and aerospace manufacturer Paramount Group and the Ichikowitz Family Foundation unveiled their Anti-Poaching Skills and K9 Training Academy in Magaliesburg last month.
“The last few years of involvement in the war against poaching has taught us that there is no better solution than well-trained boots on the ground to effectively combat the wave of poachers that continue to flood into national parks across the continent,” said Ichikowitz Family Foundation director Eric Ichikowitz during the unveiling.
He added that the academy would address the ever-increasing need for training of conservation officers in antipoaching activities, wildlife contraband detection, specialist K9 solutions and ranger K9 handler training – all of which had proven success rates in combating and apprehending poachers.
Owing to this, the academy showcased the merits of upskilling conversation officers with on-the-ground training.
“Conservation Officers have to be upskilled and provided with the necessary training and support in order to effectively combat the increased levels of poaching that is taking place. All the technology in the world is ineffective if you don’t have well-trained antipoaching units on the ground to back it up.
“These units equipped with specialist K9 solutions have been proven to support existing efforts and are highly effective in tracking down poachers, ultimately leading to effective apprehensions,” Ichikowitz pointed out.
Although the academy was unveiled last month, Paramount Group and the Ichikowitz Family Foundation have been involved in antipoaching activities for the past three years.
As a result, Ichikowitz mentioned that, since it had had conservation officers trained, the aca- demy had seen great results in placing detection dogs at strategic access points where smugglers were moving contraband across borders.
The academy houses 40 adult dogs, breeding stock, and over 50 puppies, varying in ages from five weeks to five months. Therefore, the academy is designed to manage in excess of 120 K9s at various stages of development. The academy also provides training for up to 20 specialist rangers for each training course, and the training courses are dependent on requirements and can be broken down into modules covered over an eight- or ten-week period.
The dog school specialises in breeding working Belgian shepherd dogs (Malinois) and German shepherd dogs for antipoaching purposes and for the military and the police, as well as any other specialised K9 solutions. Its breeding stock is selected from pure working bloodlines. The academy also has Rottweilers and bloodhounds for other specialised K9 solutions.
“The training protocols have been developed through experience gained in operational environments and in working closely with the Kruger Park’s special operations unit. The academy is a custom-developed antipoaching facility developed to train antipoaching rangers into specialised K9 handlers and to engage the handlers in the protocols of working with dogs in a wildlife environment,” Ichikowitz said
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