Magpie the Rescue Dog Protects Turtles by the Thousands

April is a busy month for a certain dog on South Padre Island, Texas. Magpie, a mixed breed rescue pup just over a year old, is on her new job of sniffing out endangered sea turtle nests buried in the sand. 

She alerts her human handlers to the locations of the precious eggs buried in nests known as chambers, which are then either cordoned off and protected or moved to a safer spot on this resort-town barrier island. The idea is to give the future hatchlings the best chance to make it to the sea when the time comes.

Magpie was selected from among dozens of applicants in a months-long search for the right canine for Project D.U.N.E. (Detection of Unknown Nests and Eggs). She was found at Satchel’s Last Resort, a no-kill shelter in Sarasota, Florida.

“We were given some specific qualities they were looking for in a dog,” Satchel’s executive director, Michal Anne Vander Woude, tells SRQ Media. “A dog that was focus-driven, that really enjoyed treats, was toy motivated and a little bit crazy. That’s how we picked Miss Magpie.”

Once chosen, Magpie trained for six weeks in Florida, then returned to South Padre in time for turtle-nesting season. On the command of “Go find your babies!” Magpie sniffs the sand until she locates a chamber, then sits on the spot until the humans arrive to do their thing. The eggs incubate for 45-50 days, after which the hatchlings will make their epic crawl to the sea.

As of this writing, Magpie has sniffed out 13 chambers packed with 630 eggs. There will be many more revealed in the coming weeks. Last year there was a bumper crop of 145 nests, each containing 100 to 120 eggs. It took the humans an hour or two to locate each of those chambers, but Magpie is finding them in under 20 minutes.

Project D.U.N.E. is funded by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, whose “Love, Tito's” initiative put up $100,000 to get it going. We’ve noted the distillers’ canine-loving project – Vodka for Dog People – in the past.

“We started out rescuing dogs who wandered up to our distillery, which is just one of the reasons we're so excited to support Sea Turtle Inc.,” the company said in a statement. “We can't wait to see the positive impact Magpie makes in our home state and beyond.”

Photo credit: Sea Turtles Inc