Alberta’s sniffer dogs help guard rivers from invasive Asian mussels

Edmonton: Alberta is using specially trained sniffer dogs to stop invasive Asian mussels from colonizing the province’s rivers and lakes.

For over a decade, K9 conservationists have worked at boat inspection stations across Alberta. Hilo, Jane, and Winnie — two black labs and a black-lab cross — are part of the “paws-on-the-ground” team. Under provincial law, all watercraft must stop at inspection stations when entering or leaving the province.

The dogs are trained to detect the scent of developing zebra and golden mussel larvae. The larvae are so small they often feel like sandpaper on boat hulls or docks and are easy to miss.

“The dogs are really complementing that human inspection and giving us kind of a better idea about what could be on that boat,” said Cindy Sawchuk, leader of the province’s Aquatic Invasive Species Operations and Conservation Canine Program.

Sawchuk told the Canadian Press that golden mussels recently established themselves in California, creating another potential route for invasion through British Columbia. She noted the mussels “really like to hide in damp, dark places” and many are hard to see.

Native to Southeast Asia, zebra and golden mussels are filter feeders that outcompete native fish and other bottom-dwellers for food. In similar provinces, an infestation can cost up to $75 million a year to manage and is nearly impossible to eradicate.

The dogs are rewarded with toys for every mussel patch they find, making the work enriching for them. Beyond inspection stations, the K9 team is also being trained to search shorelines for signs of mussels.