Who Is Sgiath? Scottish Dog Named Animal of the Year 2026 for Detecting Invasive ‘Carpet Sea Squirt’ Known as ‘Sea Vomit’

The six-year-old black Labrador called Sgiath, from the Scottish Highlands, has been chosen as Animal of the Year 2026 for helping researchers to identify the presence of an invasive marine species referred to as carpet sea squirt, popularly known as ‘sea vomit’.

Sgiath collaborates with her owner, Dr Texa Sim, who is a marine ecologist living near Glencoe. She has assisted in finding hundreds of colonies of the invasive species that can suffocate marine organisms and harm marine apparatus.

Sgiath will be awarded by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) during their 26th Annual Animal Action Awards ceremony on 15th October 2026. She is thought to be the first dog in the UK to have been trained in locating carpet sea squirt by smell.

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Who Is Sgiath, Animal of the Year 2026?

The dog Sgiath was trained first as a mountain rescue dog used to find lost hikers. It was her ability to solve problems and fast learning that stimulated Sim to train her for marine conservation tasks too.