Tezpur: Every time, police and anti-poaching squads in Assam find themselves in a horn of dilemma, they turn to Quarmy, the super sniffer dog that shifts its role from detecting explosives to scaring away poachers in and around Kaziranga National Park, which houses the highest population of the one-horned rhinos.
The female sniffer dog of the German Shepherd breed, which works with the specially-trained unit of the forest department to combat wildlife traffickers and poachers, has also helped earn her unit winning laurels.
Divisional forest officer of the Northern range in Biswanath Wildlife Circle of Kaziranga National Park Khargesh Pegu said, “In 2016, Quarmy was Donated by TRAFFIC to Kaziranga Tiger Reserve for fighting wildlife crimes especially for controlling the poaching of rhinos in Kaziranga National Park.”
Pegu said that the sniffer dog along with its handler was given extensive training in the National Training Centre for Dogs (NTCD) located at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh by the Border Security Force.
Like any other sniffer dog, she was given training in basic obedience, narcotics and explosive detection, tracking, guard duties and patrolling from April 2016 to December 2016.
The handler of the dog Lakhi Barua, who is from Lakhimpur, a casual worker in the forest department, was inducted in the 3rd Assam Forest Protection Force and was transferred to Biswanath. He has been handling the dog since then.
Choice of German Shepherd
German Shepherds are often used as sniffer dogs due to their intelligence, strong sense of smell, and excellent training capabilities. This breed is highly skilled in tasks such as detecting drugs, and explosives, and even searching for missing people.
German Shepherds are known for their loyalty, confidence, and versatility, making them ideal working dogs in various law enforcement and military roles. Their high energy levels, trainability, and protective instincts also make them one of the most popular breeds for service work.
Quarmi’s success stories
Laxmi Nandan Barua vividly recalls an incident when Quarmi’s service was wanted by authorities in 2017.
“We did not have any prior information about a special operation for which Quarmi was wanted. Quarmi was taken to search for a house at a place in Jamugurihat. After searching the whole house for about five minutes, he took me to a pond and recovered weapons from a pond near the house of the accused,” Barua said.
Talking about Quarmi’s skills, DFO Pegu especially mentions daring anti-poaching operations in the Kaziranga National Park in February 2018. According to him, Quarmy helped recover an elephant horn from poachers in Baghamari near Bishwanath Chariali and later got poachers accused.
In recognition to Quarmy’s role in fighting wildlife crime, the wildlife sniffer dog squad “Canine for Felines” conducted by TRAFFIC won third place in the All India Competition in July.
Quarmy has proved her mettle in jobs specified for her. She forms the fulcrum of the unit which conducts anti-poaching crackdown in the Bishwanath Wildlife Division.Her jobs range from patrolling and conducting search operations to handling security for VVIPs during helicopter landings. Quarmi goes through a drill daily beginning from morning exercises and accompanies the patrol team in its forest search.