Labradors trained to sniff out knotweed from gardens

The fox red duo has been tasked with detecting the invasive weed
Environet
Ewan Somerville7 May 2020

A pair of labrador retrievers have been trained to root out Japanese knotweed from gardens.

Mick and Mack were taught to detect the plant, which grows rapidly from underground and can knock thousands off the value of a house.

The fox-red duo, trained by RFA Security which supplies sniffer dogs to counter-terrorism police, can now cover a garden in minutes and freeze to alert their handlers to the weed.

Knotweed, which arrived in the 19th century, is one of the UK’s most destructive plants, shooting to over two metres in summer and ravaging surrounding plants.

The Royal Horticultural Society says it is “very hard to remove by hand or eradicate with chemicals”.

Weed removal firm Environet is employing the dogs after finding them far more effective than surveyors.

Nic Seal, its managing director who charges £750 plus VAT for a residential scour, told the Times: “A dog detection survey is the only way to say with high certainty that a property is clear of knotweed”.

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