Scottish Labrador Sgiath wins animal of the year for sniffing out invasive 'sea vomit' creature

Sgiath, a six-year-old black Labrador from the Scottish Highlands, has taken the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Animal of the Year title after becoming the world's first dog to be trained for detecting carpet sea squirt — an invasive marine organism nicknamed 'sea vomit'. Marine ecologist Dr Texa Sim, who handles Sgiath and works near Glencoe, launched the effort as a proof of concept and says the dog has surpassed all expectations, locating hundreds of colonies of the organism, which can overwhelm and destroy native species.

Sgiath's first training was as a mountain rescue dog before Dr Texa Sim recognised her potential for marine conservation.

Identifying carpet sea squirt ordinarily demands specialist laboratory analysis and DNA testing — Sgiath locates it by scent alone, even when it is concealed among other marine life.

'The first time I asked her to identify the target species, she went straight to it,' said Dr Sim. 'That was the moment I thought: maybe this is actually going to work.'