Notes - Victorian Apiarists'Association (VAA)

RIRDC e-newsletter December 2011, reprinted in January 2012 Tasmanian Beekeepers Association newsletter
It would take a human inspector a whole day to inspect 45 hives for American Foulbrood (AFB), but once trained, Elroy the Springer Spaniel will be able to inspect 100 hives in 45 minutes.
A current RIRDC project is taking advantage of the dog's incredible sense of smell, by training a sniffer dog to detect AFB, a serious disease in bee hives.
In Maryland USA sniffer dogs have been detecting this lethal disease of bees since the 1970s.