When wildfires destroyed the forests of Chile back in 2017 by spreading through one million acres of land, a region that was once lush was left empty without trees and other plants.
In fact, this was the worst wildfire season in the history of the country and it actually took several lives and caused damage estimated to be around $333 million.
Although she knew that restoring this huge area known as the El Maule is no small task, Francisca Torres, the founder of the animal-centric community Pewos, decided to recruit a very enthusiastic team to help her out.
It’s consisted of three amazing Border Collies.
How Three Border Collies Helped in Rejuvenating the Forests of Chile
Made up of the 6-year-old Das and her daughters Summer and Olivia, the cute trio has been trained to plant flora throughout the barren area. They wear special packs filled with seeds and they sow them inadvertently while playing and running around the forest.
During an outing, this awesome trio plants 20 pounds of seeds over 15 miles and replenishes the areas a playful pounce at a time. These super dogs’ effort has already shown results. Torres says it’s evident because a lot of the flora and fauna have returned to the area.
Torres who’s often helped by her sister Constanza says that they don’t just train the dogs themselves, but they’ve also paid themselves for the seeds, supplies, and transportation.
This proves that their tail-wagging project is definitely a labor of love.
Why Are Border Collies a Great Breed for this Job?
It turns out this is the perfect breed for this type of job. Being able to run through miles of terrain doesn’t just demand speed, endurance, and intelligence, but also a willingness to remain focused without distraction.
Border Collies were originally bred to herd sheep so the likelihood of them running after animals or hurt them is very low. Using dogs seems to be smarter and more efficient than having people spread the seeds manually.
Border Collies are very fast and can cover up to 18 miles a day. Although robots or drones can also help in spreading the seeds, they may be pricier than dogs. It’s also important to mention that dogs’ carbon footprint is much lower than that of other means.
When the trio’s bags are empty, Francisca and Constanza reward them with treats and refill the bags. They release them back again to spread the new seeds through the forest.
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