Listen: How detection dog Skye is protecting Orkney's wildlife

Listen to dog handler, Chantel Carr, speak about protecting Orkney's wildlife on the Dogs with Jobs podcast.

Since 2010, when stoats were first spotted on Orkney, the hugely successful predator has bred in its thousands, posing an existential threat to our wildlife:

• Stoat's high metabolism means it eats 25% of its own body weight every day;
• It tends to kill more than it needs and stores the rest to eat later;
• Stoat's are skilled hunters – fast, agile, can climb well and has great eyesight, hearing and sense of smell;
• They're great swimmers too, and can swim 3 km or more;
• When young stoats, called kits, leave home, they can travel over 40 miles in search of their own territory.

Just two years ago, stoats were easily spotted on Orkney, with large numbers roaming over the island, since then over 6,000 stoats have been removed. Now that the numbers are coming down, the dogs’ work is vital, as they perform active searches for stoat scat (poo) and can alert the team to stoat presence.

• Listen to more Dogs with Jobs episodes
• Learn more about native wildlife in Orkney
• Learn more about stoat eradication in Orkney