A SPECIALLY-trained dog has saved a month of detection work by sniffing out newts at the site of a pipeline construction project.

South East Water is currently installing two kilometres of pipe in the area as part of a £1.3m project. Part of the pipeline goes through private land within close proximity to a water body – a well-known haven for small, threatened creatures.

Poppy the springer spaniel scaled several acres of land in rapid fashion, sniffing out potential hiding spots for Great crested newts within fields in Farnham, Surrey.

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Project manager Jeremy Dufour said: “Great crested newts are a protected species and are small, meaning they are often hard to spot on land without using labour-intensive daily trapping. By using these specially-trained dogs we are able to identify where the newts are living and ensure the impact on both the wider environment and ecology is kept to an absolute minimum. We also reduce our carbon footprint by reducing the number of times we need to visit the site to set up fencing and equipment and search for newts.

“Traditional methods would have taken around 30 days to complete so we have saved approximately a month of work as well as hefty project costs and – of course – disruption to the community.”

While newts do not give off a particularly pungent scent to humans, dogs are able to sniff them out from several feet away. The Sniffer dogs are trained not to touch, harm or chase newts. They simply alert their handlers to where the animals may be hiding by sitting still.

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If a newt is found, a dedicated ecologist then picks it up and moves it to a safe location.

Jeremy continued: “Thankfully, Poppy did not detect any newts within our working area so our team can proceed to install the new pipe as planned.”

More information about the project can be found on the South East Water website: southeastwater.co.uk.