Mobility Minister Petra Berg, together with the Group Representative for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland at Deutsche Bahn, Ismail Ertug, accompanied the work of a species detection dog on July 14 in Homburg-Beeden. The dogs are deployed by DB InfraGO during maintenance measures or construction projects and search areas for protected animal species in the company of experts.
If such species are present in an area, compensatory measures are initiated and the animals are relocated if necessary. This method allows for faster planning and reduction of construction time.
“The protection of the sand lizard, wall lizard, smooth snake, yellow-bellied toad, hazel dormouse, and bat is regulated by the Federal Nature Conservation Act. It is essential to consider the survival of these protected species in construction projects,” says Petra Berg. “Dogs have an exceptional sense of smell and can detect the animals much faster and more intensively than humans.”
“Nature and species protection play an important role in the maintenance and construction projects of Deutsche Bahn. With our species detection dogs, we reliably locate protected animal species and thus create synergies for targeted protection and compensation measures. In this way, humans and dogs combine modern nature conservation with responsible implementation of construction and infrastructure projects,” adds Ismail Ertug.
The training of the dogs is divided into two phases: The puppies are purchased by the Species Mapping Competence Center from breeders and begin an external preliminary training lasting several months. At about one year of age, a specialized training to become a species detection dog begins, lasting around one year. The training sessions take place at the training facility near Erfurt. Additionally, training with scent samples from the respective animals (e.g., eggshells, droppings, or shed skin) is conducted under as varied conditions as possible, such as along disused railway tracks or on compensation areas.
Background:
In 2022, the first species detection dogs started their work in Bavaria. Since then, the method of detecting protected animal species with specially trained dogs and humans has been regularly applied and is increasingly establishing itself. Currently, 17 species detection dogs are in use nationwide for DB InfraGO AG. Another six young dogs were purchased from breeders in 2026, are currently undergoing their (pre-) training, and will begin species detection dog training at the beginning of 2027. Species detection dogs as well as mappers are trained in the company’s own Competence Center.
Photo credit:
Group Representative Ismail Ertug (3rd from left) and Minister Petra Berg (4th from left) are observing a DB species protection detection dog in action.
