River, the signal crayfish detection dog
From Dogs with Jobs by Petersfield's Shine Radio
April 1, 2026 · 37 min
About this episode
The episode features River, a unique detection dog trained to find invasive signal crayfish in the UK, and discusses her role and the impact of these crayfish on native species.
River, a little black spaniel in a bright orange vest is searching river bank in a Hampshire nature reserve. On this occasion, it's a demonstration only. River is unique: the only conservation dog in the UK trained to find signal crayfish ( Pacifastacus leniusculus ), an American invasive species that was farmed as a delicacy in the UK in the 1960s and escaped into the wild. The signal crayfish is a well equipped predator and will eat vegetation, small invertebrates and fish, including junior native crayfish. If they're hungry, they will turn on each other. They grow up to 18cm and burrow up to two metres deep into waterway banks, damaging habitat and leaving canals vulnerable to collapse. As if this weren't enough, they also carry "crayfish plague", a fungal disease, which is fatal to the UK's native white-clawed crayfish. The native crayfish has declined drastically to the point of extinction. (The situation is akin to that of the invasive grey and native red squirrel). River's handler, Lucy Wilde explains to Dogs with Jobs presenter, Kate Fairweather, how River has ended up with this specialised role, and what her working life looks like. More info: Follow…
People in this episode
Host: Kate Fairweather
Guest: Lucy Wilde
Topics covered
- conservation
- detection dogs
- invasive species
- wildlife protection
- environmental science
Keywords
- signal crayfish
- detection dog
- invasive species
- conservation
- wildlife
- Hampshire
- crayfish plague
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Dogs with Jobs, The Ecology Detection Dog Working Group
Products: signal crayfish, crayfish plague
Places: Hampshire, UK
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