Meet UK's first tree-sniffing dog who helps save forests from deadly disease
A specially-trained dog named Ivor now detects dangerous tree infections across British woodlands. This unique six-year-old mixed-breed helps government experts find and stop spreading of plant diseases
In a ground-breaking move by UK government a black-coated mixed-breed dog became nations first tree-disease detector. Ivor‚ a six-year old spaniel-labrador cross brings his super-sensitive nose to help protect British forests
The main target is Phytophthora ramorum: a water-based micro-organism thats killing various tree species (its name means plant destroyer in Greek). This infection shows up as dark spots on bark bleeding cankers and dead twigs — making early detection super-important
Part of the issue is detecting it and diagnosing it so we wanted to explore possibility of using a detector dog
Laboratory tests showed amazing results: Ivor got perfect scores with clean-water samples and hit 89% accuracy with pond-water tests. His previous job was finding water-leaks which made him a good pick for this tree-saving mission
The government funded program focuses on protecting:
* Larch trees
* Sweet chestnuts
* Oak populations
* Other commercial wood types
Luke Jones from Canine Assisted Pest Eradication picked Ivor for his easy-going nature. “Hes really gentle — hell come up and just lick your fingers“ says Heather Dun‚ a forest research expert who helped with training. They use special toys to teach him spot infected trees in real-world settings with lots of distracting smells
This isnt first time UK used dogs for plant protection: back in 2012 some Austrian dogs helped fight beetle outbreak in Kent. Now Ivor leads the way as more dogs start training to find different forest threats like spruce bark beetles and ash borers
