Ten detector dogs will be making their way to work in electric bikes after Auckland Council opted to extend the team and change their mode of transport.
The team has increased from two to 10 and will sniff out rodents stowing away on ferries headed to native islands in the Hauraki Gulf.
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Auckland Council biosecurity manager Jonathan Miles told Newshub the dogs are trained to ensure no pests are missed.
"They're specifically tasked to detect certain predators, so we've got rodent detection dogs, we've got stoat detection dogs, we've got Argentinian ant detection dogs."
He's sure they're not going to miss any.
"These ferries and vehicle ferries are high-risk pathways and so, when the dogs go over those ferries and don't detect anything, we know that there's nothing on them."
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said the bikes would be a great way to get the dogs around considering the congestion where the dogs work.
"With traffic congestion in the city centre, it makes sense to use bikes to move our biosecurity dogs around the city," he said in a statement.
"The dog team is integral to our programme. Their surveillance abilities are outstanding, and they cover a lot of ground making them more efficient than traditional reliance on visual inspections by staff."
Human members of the biosecurity team will ride the bikes, while the dogs will be towed in a small buggy specially made for pets.
Newshub.
