Water workers using 'Sherlock Bones' sniffer dogs to detect wildlife in Peterborough

A paw-some duo has been helping workers detect – and protect – endangered wildlife as they construct a new multi-million-pound water main network.

Hetty and Rex have been sniffing out water voles along a 90-kilometre section of Anglian Water’s new network between Grantham, Peterborough and Downham Market, in Norfolk.

Water voles have come close to vanishing forever – with numbers dropping by 95 per cent between 1939 and 1998 and they are still listed as endangered.

Now, the highly trained dogs, Hetty, a cocker spaniel and Rex, a cocker spaniel Labrador-cross, detect water vole habitat they sit down.

Ecologist Andrew Weston, from the team delivering the new water main grid, said: “Maintaining good-quality habitat is key to ensuring water voles thrive.

“Hetty and Rex are the ‘Sherlock Bones’ duo of our team. Their exceptional sense of smell helps our team of ecologists to detect water voles, or to rule out the presence of the animals, before we start any of our pipelaying work. Where we do find them, we’ll take steps to make sure our work doesn’t harm them.

“As well as delivering a much-needed network of water pipelines, we’re committed to maintaining rich, diverse, environmentally-friendly landscapes in the areas we work, and in doing so helping water voles – and all other animals – to thrive across our region.”

Water voles are often mistaken for rats but there are distinctive differences. The water vole has a rounded muzzle and ears mostly hidden in the fur while rats have pointed faces, obvious ears, and large eyes and a long, hairless tail. 

They were once common across the UK but have vanished from many locations due to the loss of their natural habit and the introduction of American mink, which prey on water voles.

Louise, who is also the founder of Conservation K9 Consultancy, said a dog’s sense of smell is at least 100,000 times more sensitive than a human.

She said: “The use of dogs to help with conservation is more common in other parts of world than in the UK - but when it comes to detecting animals, dogs are quicker than humans and have less impact on the environment.

“We train Hetty and Rex, and all our other dogs, to detect wildlife in the same way the police dogs are trained to detect bombs and drugs, allowing organisations like Anglian Water to protect wildlife, ecology and biodiversity.”