Using Fido to find invasive species & rare animals
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published August 17, 2024 9:00 PM
Banshee, a Patterdale terrier, is on the k9inSCENTive team. She does botany work helping to detect the presence of pathogenic fungi in nursery plants and soil.
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Marcella Winslow
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Courtesy K9inSCENTive
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Topline:
Ecological conservation has a new best friend — dogs that are trained to use their superior sense of smell to find invasive plants, locate endangered animals, and find dead birds and bats at renewable energy sites.
A brief history: Ecological scent detection started to take root in the U.S. in the 1990s, after technological advances enabled DNA materials to be extracted from animal scat. From there, some biologists and ecologists started to explore the idea of using scent detection dogs to track endangered animals using their poop.
And now: The field has grown and developed, and these working dogs are used in everything from finding endangered snakes in the San Francisco Bay, to detecting environmental contaminants on a Indigenous reservation in Montana.
Lauralea Oliver has worked with dogs for most of her life. She grew up with a German Shepherd as a pet, was a dog trainer for many years, worked in animals shelters — all of which led her to dabble in scent work about 15 years ago.
"I met a lot of people — professional handlers that did narcotics, search and rescue," said Oliver, who lives in the community of Acton near Antelope Valley. "I started to feel a pull in that direction."
Oliver is also a big naturalist. So she started researching fields that combine these different interests.
What she happened upon was the then nascent field of using dogs for ecological scent detection. "A marriage made in heaven for me," Oliver said.
At that time, her sidekick was a working dog rescued from a county shelter named George. Today, Oliver owns and run k9inSCENTive in Acton with a small team of trainers and five dogs.
A nose for everything
Their projects have taken them to various parts of California and beyond, working with different plant and animal species, be it detecting a fungal pathogen in Northern California that causes Sudden Oak Death in trees (with Bolt, the cattle dog), to finding and safeguarding the drop-dead gorgeous and heavily poached San Francisco garter snakes in its namesake city (with Muon, the Belgian malinois), to conducting population surveys for the possibly extinct Morro Bay kangaroo rat (with Vector, the now-retired Belgian malinois).
"You'll find that if you talk to conservation dog people, most of the dogs are trained on something that's either state or federally protected, because that's what they need the dogs for," Oliver said.
Lauralea Oliver with Mayhem, a Belgian malinois, an ecological scent detection dogs.
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Marcella Winslow.
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Courtesy k9inSCENTive
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A majority of her projects, she said, involve finding dead bat and birds at wind or solar farms for impact surveys that are required by the federal government. That work typically falls on Mamba the Labrador retriever mix, another labrador Circe, and Muon.
"They find 80 to 90% of the things that fall from the sky. Previously we'd use a human surveyor to do visual checks and they're not nearly as good, especially with finding small targets like small birds and bats," she said.
A needle in a haystack
Lately, Oliver and her team have been conducting a population count in different areas of Arizona for a species of rare cactus called pediocactus — one of the most trafficked plants in the world.
Not only does the team have to sweep through a large area, these cacti are also tiny.
"Some of them are as small as like a nickel," Oliver said. "The biggest one we found was probably like a quarter."
For several hours in the morning, Circe would tagged team with Muon to search for the plant — with the labrador identifying general areas where the plant is present, and the malinois zeroing in on the cactus.
The method of using dogs in conservation efforts was documented as far back as the 1890s in New Zealand. The practice started to gain ground in the 1990s, when science figured out how to extract DNA materials from fecal matter, said Kayla Fratt with K9 Conservationists in Oregon.
"All of a sudden finding poop was really valuable, and that's where the dogs really took off," Fratt said, because the technology made more ecological research to be done through fecal-only surveys possible.
Kayla Fratt and Barley, her conservation dog with K9 Conservationists.
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Courtesy K9 Conservationists
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Barley, the ecological scent detection dog.
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Courtesy K9 Conservationists
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And since, Fratt said, "finding poop, which is, for lack of a better phrase, our better bread and butter."
In 2022, K9 Conservationists' very first project was to help train cheetah scat detection dogs in Kenya. Since then, Fratt and her team of trainers and border collie mixes have worked in places ranging from Alaska to look for wolf scat, to Santa Barbara to track the poop of pumas, black bears and other animals.
"From the conservation perspective, if you don't know what an animal is eating, you don't know what part of the ecosystem is most important to protect in order to keep them healthy," Fratt said, who is pursuing a doctorate degree at Oregon State University with a research focus on conservation dogs and hosts a podcast on the topic.
And all it took a handful of expertly trained dogs and their handlers — something unimaginable just three decades ago.
"The way that we all used to survey and get data from a lot of wildlife species was pretty invasive — it's trapping and collaring and following those individual animals," said Alice Whitelaw, a co-founder of the Montana-based nonprofit, Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C).
As such, as advances in fecal DNA took hold, Whitelaw (then a wolf biologist) and a few like-minded scientists founded WD4C in the mid-1990s to explore using dogs in conservation — one among a few organizations to emerge at the time.
Alice Whitelaw and her detection dog, Rue, in the Carrizo Plain National Monument in central California.
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Courtesy Working Dogs for Conservation
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Scat from Alice Whitelaw's recent project to locate the scat of endangered Blunt-nosed leopard lizard, and California Whiptail lizard, as well as Blainville horned lizard.
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Courtesy Working Dogs for Conservation
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"We were all dog people that just happened to be biologists and ecologists," Whitelaw said. "We reached out to a lot of narcotics officers, and they all thought we were kind of nuts, because we wanted to find poop."
From that starting point of using scat for ecological monitoring of endangered and rare animals, WD4C expanded to other areas: anti-poaching detection; finding invasive plants and species known in the conservation field as biosecurity; and environmental justice, like working with the Blackfoot tribe and the nonprofit Indigenous Vision to identify contaminants in the environment.
"The dogs aren't finding forever chemicals and toxins in the water supply or diseases in the landscape, what they're looking for is mink or otter scat that contains those contaminants," Whitelaw said. "That gives us an idea of what the indigenous population might be facing in terms of their water quality and also their ability to use land and water resources the way they have forever."
'Girls with dogs'
An OG in the field, Whitelaw has the rare vantage point of seeing how dog conservation detection has evolved over the last 30 years.
"Often we would show up to do a project and it was like, 'Oh God, it's the girls and their dogs,'" said Whitelaw. "It just wasn't taken very seriously in the beginning, and now it's taken very seriously worldwide."
As the discipline develops and expands, the conversation has turned to the potential of coming up with a set of standards to maintain the integrity and longevity of the field. But it's not easy.
"Any law enforcement certification, you know, there's very specific things that you test for. Can the dog smell cocaine? Can the dog properly track a human at this distance in these given parameters?" said Whitelaw. "Those things can be more easily tested for than can a dog find Kit fox scat, blunt nosed leopard lizard, invasive plants of four different species, the list is endless."
That's because the abilities of these working dogs are endless.
"Their capacity to not only learn multiple scents, and great numbers of multiple scents, but to remember them for years and years and years. It just still kind of blows me away," Whitelaw said.
Proposed tax increase to pay for landslide damages
Yusra Farzan
has been covering the Rancho Palos Verdes landslide since 2023.
Published October 16, 2026 5:00 AM
An aerial view of the Terranea Resort.
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Robert Gauthier
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Rancho Palos Verdes is turning to its best-known attraction to pay for landslide-related damages. Come November, voters in the city will be asked to vote on a ballot measure that would raise the tax on overnight guests at Terranea Resort and a small, lesser-known inn.
Why it matters: Rancho Palos Verdes’ landslide woes have hit the city’s coffers hard. By the end of June 2027, the city will have spent around $75 million just on landslide-related damages over the last three and a half years. Voters in the city are being asked to vote on Measure RS, which would increase the tax overnight hotel guests pay from 10% to 13%. A two-star inn in the city would also be affected if the tax measure passes. If Measure RS passes, it could bring in around $2.2 million annually.
How we got here: The Portuguese Bend area in Rancho Palos Verdes was once green rolling hills offering spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island. Now, much of that land is riddled with 20-foot chasms, some spanning 12 feet. For decades, land movement was minimal. But with above-average rainfall in 2022 and 2023, that movement rapidly accelerated — up to 1 foot per week in some places. Land movement has since slowed to about an inch a week, thanks in part to wells the city installed that suck water out of the ground. But damage to the area remains and will likely never be abated.
RPV has spent a significant amount of money to lessen the erosion.
Rancho Palos Verdes’ landslide woes have hit the city’s coffers hard. By the end of June 2027, the city will have spent around $75 million just on landslide-related damages over the last three and a half years.
So now, they are looking at one of the city’s best-known attractions for help: the Terranea Resort. Voters in the city are being asked to vote in November on Measure RS, which would increase the tax overnight hotel guests pay from 10% to 13%.
A two-star inn in the city would also be affected if the tax measure passes.
How would the tax help?
If Measure RS passes, it could bring in around $2.2 million annually.
“We reached out to Terranea as we were exploring different revenue streams and talked to them about the possibility of increasing the [transient occupancy tax] from 10% to 13%,” said Ara Mihranian, the city manager. “We looked at comparables of similar resort hotels in the greater Los Angeles area and Orange County that are generally their competitors or similar establishments to see where they ranked. And Terranea was below the market rate in terms of the transient occupancy tax.”
The 102-acre resort sits on bluffs along the coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean and offers guests casitas, villas and rooms that start at $350 and can exceed $1,500 during peak seasons.
A spokesperson for Terranea Resort declined to comment for this story.
How we got here
The Portuguese Bend area in Rancho Palos Verdes was once green rolling hills offering spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island. Now, much of that land is riddled with 20-foot chasms, some spanning 12 feet.
For decades, land movement was minimal. But with above-average rainfall in 2022 and 2023, that movement rapidly accelerated — up to 1 foot per week in some places. Land movement has since slowed to about an inch a week, thanks in part to wells the city installed that suck water out of the ground. But damage to the area remains and will likely never be abated.
RPV has spent a significant amount of money to lessen the erosion.
Mihranian said the city has filled fissures in the landslide area, installed protective lining in the canyons and has checked all the deep dewatering wells to make sure they can pump water out of the ground so it cannot collect and cause land movement — especially important ahead of El Niño.
“We're also making sure that the wells and the generators that support and energize the wells are encased and housed so that in the event of extreme weather, they are protected from any elements,” he said.
The city has also installed pipes along the main road through the landslide complex so that, instead of flooding the road, water will be diverted to the ocean.
Still, even if the measure passes, the $2.2 million annually will still not cover all landslide-related costs. A spokesperson told LAist the city is still “aggressively” pursuing grants to cover mounting costs.
A demonstrator holds a sign during a "No Kings" protest, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Atlanta.
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Mike Stewart
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AP
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Topline:
"No Kings" protests are returning for a fourth round Saturday, Oct. 17.
Why now? This time, the focus is on the November midterms and getting people prepared to vote. Previous protests had drawn large crowds.
Read on ... to find details and information.
"No Kings" protests are returning for a fourth round Saturday, Oct. 17.
This time, the focus is on the November midterms and getting people prepared to vote. Previous protests had drawn large crowds.
"We expect tens of thousands of people to attend the various No Kings rallies throughout the greater Los Angeles area, and we would not be surprised to see tens of thousands at the downtown rally itself," said Nick Miller, a press coordinator with 50501 SoCal, a partnering organization.
That protest is taking place at 1 p.m. at Gloria Molina Grand Park.
LAPD said they are aware of the rally and don’t anticipate any issues.
Pasadena, Long Beach and Riverside are also holding rallies.
Where are they happening in SoCal?
Burbank: 10 a.m. to noon at Abraham Lincoln Park
Culver City: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Culver City Hall
Downtown L.A.: 1 to 5 p.m. at Gloria Molina Grand Park
Fontana: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Seville Park
Huntington Beach: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Huntington Beach Pier
Irvine: 3. to 5 p.m. at Trabuco Center
Pasadena: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Colorado Boulevard and Fair Oaks Avenue
Riverside: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Market Street and University Avenue
Santa Clarita: 9 a.m. to noon at Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway
Torrance: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Torrance City Hall
Whittier: 12:30 to 2 p.m. at Whittier City Hall
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 14: Max Muncy #13, Tommy Edman #25, Mookie Betts #50, Freddie Freeman #5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers look on during a pitching change during the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in game three of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on October 14, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Sean M. Haffey
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Getty Images North America
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Topline:
Milwaukee’s brilliant bullpen slammed the door late and the Brewers rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to earn their first trip to the World Series since 1982.
What happened: Shohei Ohtani’s first home run this postseason helped put the Dodgers ahead 4-0 in the second inning before the Brewers came back to complete a four-game sweep of the two-time defending World Series champions a year after getting swept by Los Angeles in the NLCS.
Garrett Mitchell hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning, Milwaukee’s brilliant bullpen slammed the door late and the Brewers rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to earn their first trip to the World Series since 1982.
No. 9 hitter David Hamilton’s two-out solo shot off Edwin Díaz gave the Brewers a two-run cushion in the ninth. Hamilton had just four homers in the regular season.
“We got down early tonight and we were like, it’s going to be a great story,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said. “We’re going to come back and win this. Like, stay together, start chipping away. And that’s exactly what they did.”
Shohei Ohtani’s first home run this postseason helped put the Dodgers ahead 4-0 in the second inning before the Brewers came back to complete a four-game sweep of the two-time defending World Series champions a year after getting swept by Los Angeles in the NLCS.
Milwaukee became the first major league club to complete a postseason sweep after getting swept by that same opponent in the previous postseason.
“Playing with that chip on our shoulder,” Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby said. “You don’t ever know what to expect going into a series like that last year. You don’t know how bad it can be, and then it was as bad as it was. And we came out and we survived, and we came back this year, and those guys played their tails off.”
The Brewers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in their only other World Series appearance, when Milwaukee played in the American League.
With the score tied 4-all, Mitchell fell behind 0-2 before reliever Tanner Scott threw three straight balls for a full count. Mitchell’s 409-foot leadoff drive to center field — the first homer of his career on an 0-2 count — put the Brewers ahead for the first time. Mitchell also homered in their 6-2 victory Wednesday.null
“I’ve always dreamt of moments like these as a kid,” Mitchell said.
The Brewers’ bullpen coolly turned away multiple threats when the Dodgers had the potential tying run on base.
Winning pitcher JoJo Romero struck out Max Muncy with Kyle Tucker at third to end the sixth.
Ashby, who worked three scoreless innings for a save, struck out Ohtani swinging before Mookie Betts grounded out with Andy Pages at third to end the seventh. Will Smith doubled to right with one out in the eighth and was safe at third when the ball got away from Sal Frelick for an error before Ashby got Tucker to fly out and Teoscar Hernández to strike out.
The Brewers tied it in the fifth, when the Dodgers bullpen issued four walks and Milwaukee stole two bases. Hamilton’s single chased starter Tyler Glasnow and scored Frelick, who walked and stole second, to pull Milwaukee to 4-3.
Alex Vesia came in and promptly walked Brice Turang and William Contreras to load the bases. Vesia then walked NLCS MVP Jake Bauers with two outs to force in Hamilton with the tying run.
Glasnow retired his first 10 batters — six on strikeouts — before the Brewers got to him in the fourth. Turang walked, Contreras hit a ground-rule double and Bauers followed with another ground-rule double that closed Milwaukee to 4-2.
Ohtani broke out of his postseason slump with a three-run homer after Pages’ RBI single in the second. The four-time MVP released weeks of pent-up frustration by raising his arms and yelling and the crowd of 49,104 joined him in celebration.
Matthew Ballinger
is the senior editor for climate and environment coverage at LAist.
Published October 15, 2026 5:52 PM
The Henderson Fire sparked Thursday afternoon at Camp Pendleton.
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Alert California
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UC San Diego
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Topline:
Parts of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton have been ordered to evacuate, and the 5 Freeway has been closed in both directions as a wildfire burns in the area. The Henderson Fire had charred more than 1,100 acres as of 4:40 p.m.
What we know so far: The 5 Freeway was closed between Harbor Drive, near Oceanside, and Basilone Road, near the Orange County line. The Camp Pendleton Fire Department was fighting the fire, according to Cal Fire.
Read on ... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This is a developing story. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Parts of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton have been ordered to evacuate, and the 5 Freeway was briefly closed in both directions due to a wildfire in the area. The Henderson Fire had charred more than 1,118 acres as of 7 p.m.
CHP closed the 5 Freeway between Harbor Drive, near Oceanside, and Basilone Road, near the Orange County line, but began reopening the interstate just before 6 p.m.
The Camp Pendleton Fire Department was fighting the fire, according to Cal Fire.
The basics
Acreage: 1,118 acres as of Thursday afternoon
Containment: 0%
Structures destroyed: None reported
Deaths: None reported
Injuries: None reported
Evacuation orders
According to Cal Fire: "An evacuation order has been published for the Las Flores (41 Area). All affected personnel, please evacuate to Paige Field House, located in the 11 Area." A secondary evacuation point was set up at 21 Area gym, according to the Camp Pendleton Facebook page.
Road closures
5 Freeway between Basilone Road and Harbor Drive, but it was being reopened.
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