A working dog from the Scottish Highlands has been named animal of the year by a charity for hunting down an invasive marine creature called the carpet sea squirt. This organism, also nicknamed "sea vomit", is particularly harmful to coastal wildlife and economies. Working at low tide with her owner, Dr Texa Sim, black labrador Sgiath has found hundreds of colonies of the sea squirt, which - if left uncontrolled - can smother and kill native species.
Sgiath is thought to be the UK's first sea squirt-hunting dog. The marine ecologist, who is based near Glencoe, has had her dog since she was a puppy and the bond btween the two is strong. "Sgiath is incredibly clever.
Her problem solving and her ability to take on new challenges and learn so quickly are just phenomenal, and it's so amazing to watch." As a pup, Sgiath (pronounced Skee-ah) was trained as a mountain rescue dog. The labrador proved to be so good that Dr Sim wondered if she could use her skills to help with marine conservation work. Sgiath has been trained to recognise the scent of the carpet sea squirt.
And now, the six year old lab joins her owner on the beaches to sniff it out. Dr Sim says the dog is always right when pointing out a sea squirt, which can be difficult to spot, looking like slime among seaweed and on structures like pontoons and oyster cages. "When I first started this project, I genuinely didn't know whether it would work," said Dr Sim.
"No one had really explored whether dogs could help tackle this problem in the marine environment. It began as a proof-of-concept project and has exceeded every expectation I had." Dogs' scent detection skills are often used in conservation work on land, including tracking endangered species and helping investigate environmental crime. At low tide, Sgiath can, as Dr Sim puts it "dive down under the seaweed".
"She just does a survey with her nose, essentially, she can pinpoint exactly where it is, so it's much easier," she said. Marine experts believe that carpet sea squirt, formally named Didemnum vexillum, came from Japan. It arrived on the shores of the south of England and Wales in 2008.
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