The animal sniffing experts from Deutsche Bahn

Dog Finya with master Max. © Marcus Schlaf

Pygmy bats, sand lizards, smooth snakes – what creeps and flies often gets in the way of the railway in construction projects. In order to track down the animal, she now uses trained species detection dogs. A visit to Monte and Finya.

Munich– Max Bültge stands with his dog Finya, three years old, in the knee-high grass on a railway site in Munich not far from the Donnersbergerbrücke. The sun is blazing, the Cocker Spaniel is already panting. It has to be done quickly now: Longer than ten, a maximum of 20 minutes, the four-legged friend can not sniff concentrated, then he needs a break. Finya specialises in smooth snakes and the yellow-bellied toad – the reptiles and amphibians are strictly protected. And that's a problem when the railway builds again, as is now the case with the 2nd trunk line. Then the species have to be tracked down and relocated.

Six species detection dogs are in use on behalf of the railway, three more young dogs and four puppies are still in training. Since 1 July last year, the four-legged "Species Mapping" competence team has been in place at DB Netz AG. The idea came from its director, Michael Schmitt. The police also use drug-sniffing dogs, he thought to himself. And the Bundeswehr is even said to have minesweeper dogs – so why not sniffing experts for lizards, bats and the like?

Each dog is specialized in only a few species

In fact, in a two-year training course, the dogs can learn to sniff out small animals on the basis of skins and feces. In training, they are also accustomed to railway noise. The railway hopes to save time: "A person has to go out seven to ten times to record the species, a dog only once," says Schmitt.

Each dog is only responsible for two or three species – Finya for the snake and the toad, dog Monte, also a spaniel, for the sand lizard. Now he is already pulling Alexandra Hörand's leash. "He wants to get started," she laughs and scurries through the bushes with him. For example, if the dog senses a lizard, it does not eat it. "The dog has a typical display behavior," explains Max Bültge. "Stare and pause." In return, he gets a treat.

The dogs are owned by the railway, they were handed over to their mistresses and masters by means of an animal leasing contract. In the meantime, species detection dogs are being trained throughout Germany, reports the railway. The Munich dogs are on the move in Bavaria. Max Bültge, for example, has already been to Würzburg and Flintbach am Inn with Finya – where the railway wants to build the Brenner north inlet at some point.

The classic is the sand lizard

In the case of the 2nd trunk route, the investigations have already been completed by and large, but the dogs are needed again and again for individual cases. Recently, for example, for a building at the Ostbahnhof, which was to be demolished – which would not be so easy if bats were located there. However: "The classics of the 2nd trunk route are the sand lizard and the smooth snake," says Schmitt.

Once a species has been found, Nina Reinhardt is called. The biologist in the service of DB Netz AG assesses the protection status of the animals in accordance with the Habitats Directive and takes care of new habitats for the animals. "They are collected and implemented," she says. For example, there are now many bat boxes hanging in Munich's Maximiliansanlagen, in which the tribal exiles were accommodated. A domicile for lizards was found near Langwied. At the end, the dog is used again to ensure that the species is no longer detectable. This is called "presence-absence-proof" in technical jargon.

And only then can the excavator roll in.