Get ready for an absolutely fascinating story that will make you look at dogs – and bees – in a whole new light! Forget chasing squirrels; there’s a nine-year-old English Springer Spaniel named Maple who has traded in her intense past career for a vital new mission: saving our planet’s precious honeybees, and yes, she even has her very own custom-made beekeeping suit!
Maple isn’t your average pup. Before becoming a bee conservationist, she was a highly trained K-9 detection dog, using her powerful nose to locate human remains for a sheriff’s office.
Talk about a serious job! But after an on-the-job injury forced her into retirement, fate had a new, equally crucial purpose in store for this amazing canine.
Now, Maple works at Michigan State University’s Pollinator Performance Center, and her task is nothing short of heroic. She uses her incredible sense of smell to detect a devastating threat to honeybee colonies called American Foulbrood (AFB).
This is a highly contagious bacteria that is absolutely deadly to bee larvae, and if left unchecked, it can wipe out an entire hive, spreading rapidly and causing massive losses for beekeepers.
But how does a dog inspect a beehive without getting stung? That’s where her adorable, bright yellow beekeeping suit comes in! Custom-fitted with a veil for her head and tiny booties for her paws, Maple is fully protected from curious bees as she goes about her important work.
Her trainer and owner, Sue Stejskal, an MSU alum with over 25 years of experience training K-9s, carefully guides Maple through the bee yards.
When Maple sniffs out the tell-tale scent of AFB, she doesn’t bark or dig. Her signal is precise and trained: she simply sits. This quiet alert tells Stejskal exactly where the danger lies, allowing researchers to quickly inspect and intervene, potentially saving entire colonies that might otherwise be lost.
This groundbreaking work is a game-changer for bee conservation. Traditionally, beekeepers have to manually inspect thousands of colonies, a time-consuming and labor-intensive process.
A dog like Maple can zip through a bee yard, identifying at-risk hives far more efficiently, saving countless hours and, more importantly, countless bees. Given the alarming global decline in bee populations due to factors like disease, pesticides, and climate change, Maple’s contribution is truly invaluable to our food supplies and ecosystems.
Maple’s journey from a working police dog to a bee-saving extraordinaire is a testament to her amazing adaptability and desire to have a purpose.
Her story isn’t just about a dog in a cute suit; it’s about innovative conservation, the incredible power of a dog’s nose, and the heartwarming bond between a dedicated handler and her very special canine partner.
Maple is truly buzzing with importance!
