Image copyright LinkedIn Image caption German authorities hope Kowalski will improve biodiversity at construction sites
Huge pups, or “dogs of doom”, are to be dispatched to work on new construction sites to sniff out wildlife and help speed up building work.
They will wear hi-tech, infrared-based devices, strapped on their collars.
One of these is the HypnoKowalski – named after the inventor Ernst Kowalski, who invented the system.
Employees will have to wear a tracking device on their mobile phones and stand in marked zones where the dogs are expected to operate.
Image copyright German Interior Ministry Image caption Company-owning members of the public will also be able to volunteer for search teams
The dogs – whose owners will be trained and certified by Berlin’s Federal Office for Migratory Animals – will be alerted to sights of wildlife in workers’ pockets, including beavers, and sniff out bright-coloured feathers and even dung.
First sniff dogs
But the device is also capable of allowing crews to be more careful about the environment in order to prevent the spread of disease or toxins to harmful species.
The dogs, as well as being used as for-hire aerial search vehicles, will also be able to lead search parties and fan out at night so that employees can look for the animals even if there is no visibility.
The Ministry for the Interior and the German Office for Migratory Animals has launched the project to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of Germany’s first solid waste agency – now its own ministry.
Image copyright Tourism, FON Wanda
German authorities hope the dogs will increase biodiversity, while company-owning members of the public can also volunteer to join the teams, provided they are over the age of 12, and as long as they pass a background check.
The project has already begun in one of Germany’s biggest construction sites – and, predictably, it will not be working outside alone.
Kowalski, which has also been equipped with sensors, has already been tracking a yellow crayfish up a well.
Finnish company Idtech, which is working with the project, says hundreds of crayfish and other wildlife have been discovered on other construction sites, while hundreds of other species of bird, insect and mammal species have also been identified.
