Scottish labrador wins animal award for hunting invasive sea squirts

A black labrador called Sgiath has won an animal of the year award for her unusual conservation work on the Scottish coast. Sgiath hunts carpet sea squirts, an invasive species that can kill native marine life by smothering it. She is thought to be the first dog in the UK trained to find these creatures. Her owner, Dr Texa Sim, works with her at low tide along the Scottish shoreline. When Sgiath finds a colony, she goes still and stares at the spot. She has located hundreds of colonies this way. Carpet sea squirts, sometimes called "sea vomit", spread quickly and damage both coastal wildlife and local economies. The charity that gave Sgiath her award recognised her work as a new way to tackle the problem.