Dog named animal of the year for hunting invasive sea creature

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 15 Oct, 11:08 · Archive

A black Labrador from the Scottish Highlands has been named animal of the year for hunting carpet sea squirt, an invasive marine organism.

Sgiath, a black Labrador from the Scottish Highlands, has been named animal of the year by the International Fund for Animal Welfare for hunting the carpet sea squirt, an invasive marine creature also known as 'sea vomit'. The six-year-old was originally trained as a mountain rescue dog before her handler, marine ecologist Dr Texa Sim, wondered whether she could use her skills for marine conservation work.

Sgiath has been trained to recognise the scent of carpet sea squirt, the scientific name Didemnum vexillum. She works at low tide with Dr Sim on beaches near Glencoe, where she has found hundreds of colonies of the organism. The creature can smother and kill native species if left uncontrolled and can spread rapidly across harbours, oyster farms and other marine infrastructure. Identification of the species normally requires specialist laboratory analysis and DNA testing, but Sgiath can detect it quickly even when hidden among other marine life.

Dr Sim said she began the project uncertain whether it would work. 'No one had really explored whether dogs could help tackle this problem in the marine environment,' she said. 'It began as a proof-of-concept project and has exceeded every expectation I had.' She developed the idea while working on a native oyster restoration project on Scotland's west coast and became concerned about invasive marine species. Sgiath is thought to be the UK's first sea squirt-hunting dog, and is believed to be the first dog in the world trained to recognise the organism.

How it is being reported

• Dog that hunts invasive ‘sea vomit’ creature wins animal of the year awardSgiath had originally trained as a mountain rescue dog – but now tracks down an invasive maritime creatureThe Independent · 15 Oct, 10:45
• Dog that hunts invasive 'sea vomit' honoured as animal of the yearA working is named animal of the year for hunting out an invasive marine creature, the carpet sea squirt.BBC Science · 15 Oct, 00:35

In this story: Sgiath · Dr Texa Sim · Scottish Highlands · International Fund for Animal Welfare · Glencoe · Scotland

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