A six-year-old Labrador from the Scottish Highlands has moved from mountain-rescue training to a very different setting: Scotland’s coast. Sgiath was named the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s 2026 Animal of the Year at a ceremony at BAFTA in London on Oct. 15, the organization announced the following day. Her conservation work centers on detecting an invasive marine species by scent.
Sgiath works with marine ecologist Dr. Texa Sim to find carpet sea squirt, or Didemnum vexillum. IFAW says Sgiath is believed to be the first dog trained to detect the organism. The group’s announcement describes her as a conservation dog helping pioneer a new approach to marine conservation. The distinction matters: she is a detection partner, not a replacement for the scientists and site managers who decide what to do with a suspected finding.
The idea grew out of Sim’s work on native oyster restoration along Scotland’s west coast. In an interview with The Independent, Sim said she wondered whether a dog’s sensitive nose could help locate a marine organism that can be difficult to identify among other life. She began training Sgiath to recognize the scent of D. vexillum.
The first test described by The Independent involved presenting the target among other similar scents. Sim recalled that Sgiath went directly to it. The project began as a proof of concept, she said, and the results encouraged her to continue. Sim told the newspaper the dogs’ ability to detect very low concentrations of scent had surprised her, while also cautioning that dogs alone will not solve the invasive-species problem.
The concern is not that every sea squirt is harmful. The issue is this species outside its native range. A 2024 Scottish Marine Directorate study says established D. vexillum can negatively affect marine habitats, outcompete native species and create economic losses in aquaculture. The report says it is known in parts of the Firth of Clyde, Loch Creran and Loch Fyne.
Scotland has also tested another way to map the species. A Scottish Government Marine Directorate pilot studied environmental DNA, traces organisms shed into water or sediment, across parts of the Firth of Clyde, Loch Creran and the wider Lynn of Lorn. Its 2019 sampling targeted ports, harbours, ferry terminals, marinas, aquaculture sites, and private pontoons and jetties. The report says eDNA was found mainly near colonies already known, while signals raised suspicion at Rubha Dearg and Dunstaffnage Marina. Follow-up rapid assessment confirmed colonies at Dunstaffnage in September 2022, and the authors recommended more surveys around Loch Creran and Rubha Dearg. The study says eDNA can help direct conventional surveys toward places where a non-native species may be present. It offers another example of conservation combining newer detection tools with field checks.
That research is a useful comparison, not evidence that Sgiath has searched those places or that her alerts have identified a colony. The government study tested a separate method; its results underline why any promising signal needs appropriate follow-up.
The public accounts leave one practical question open: how Sgiath’s scent response performs beyond the initial test. The Independent describes a proof-of-concept project and Sim’s first test among similar scents. Neither that report nor IFAW’s award announcement lists a confirmed field detection by Sgiath at a named site or a measured success rate, so this story does not claim those results.
The award recognizes both the unusual partnership and the people behind it. IFAW says this year’s Animal Action Awards honored six people and one four-legged conservation worker, with winners selected after public nominations, review and shortlisting. Sgiath received the Animal of the Year award alongside handler Sim; the ceremony was held at BAFTA in London.
The award does not mean carpet sea squirt has been eradicated. It recognizes an attempt to apply a dog’s scent ability to a conservation challenge. The reporting documents a developing project and an encouraging first scent test, not measured field performance; it does not name a confirmed site where Sgiath has detected the species. For now, the story is about an unusual tool being explored by a marine ecologist and her dog.
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