Game wardens felt that at least somebody was on their side when the Humane Society of the United States decided to fund rewards for poaching arrest tips and sponsor a team of crime-sniffing dogs.
California's poaching police are stretched thin, sometimes covering thousands of square miles at a time. They lack manpower more than they lack things to investigate.
"Calls don't get responded to, investigations don't get conducted," said Todd Tognazzini, president of the game wardens union. "Our operations are extremely stressed."
The state has about 250 field-level game wardens, all of whom are required to take two furlough days a month because of budget constraints. Each covers about 1,500 square miles of territory, which can double or triple when their colleagues to the north or south are off duty, Tognazzini said.
The Humane Society's sponsorship of four dogs will allow for more effective patrolling, said warden Lynette Shimek, with the Department of Fish and Game's K-9 program.
The pet insurance company PetPlan will sponsor a fifth dog, Shimek said.
The dogs are trained to sniff out gunpowder, to help apprehend wildlife criminals and to detect invasive species such as mussels.
Shimek said the program relies on donations but doesn't solicit them. These dogs are the first to get full sponsorship, which costs $1,000 a year, she said.
"The sponsorship of these dogs takes a lot of worry off," she said. "A lot of people aren't donating because of the way the economy is."
Last year, the K9 fund dwindled dramatically because several dogs were severely injured and one was bitten by a snake, Shimek said. Fifteen are still unsponsored.
Humane Society officials announced Wednesday they will give rewards for tippers of the California Turn In Poachers. Tognazzini said the information is always useful, but not its priority source.
Anonymous tips tend to describe an incident that already happened, which doesn't always lead to an arrest, he said.
Still, wardens do what they can with the information.
"We really try to respond to as many calls as we can," he said.
Call The Bee's Sarah Frier, (916) 321-1119.
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