Yes – it's a dog in a beekeeper’s outfit. But Bazz isn’t dressed up for fun; the black Labrador has been specially trained by beekeeper Josh Kennet to detect a deadly disease called American foulbrood that has been wiping out hives in south Australia.
The suit protects Bazz from stings as he sets about his special duties of sniffing out the disease, helping to protect honeybee hives from destruction. Kennet, who lives in Tintinara, said the suit was created for his furry colleague through a process of trial and error.
"The process of training Bazz and developing the suit has been an attempt to find a better way of controlling American foulbrood disease,” he said.
“Detection and quarantine processes are essential to save our bees. I realised that Bazz was able to sniff out the disease, and save thousands of bees - but he didn’t like being around them too much when he was getting stung. So I’ve tried to develop a suit the dog can wear and hopefully avoid being stung.”
