KENNEBUNK, Maine — Can dogs help prevent invasive species from doing damage here in Maine? The Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk has been doing research to answer that question, as part of a nationwide study with two universities. Recently, they've come into some answers.
For nine months now, Sarah Ashe's dog, Hopper, has been sniffing eggs from spotted lantern flies.
"He's got it in his rolodex of scents," Ashe said.
Hopper first got a smell in February, when Ashe added him to the research at AWS. He joined a few other dogs to collect research for Texas Tech and Virginia Tech.
"It gave us the opportunity to potentially give back to the environment and also work with our dogs that need a little extra."
NEWS CENTER Maine first met Hopper and the others at the start, when the study centered around one big question.
"Can we train those dogs on their nightly walk to just go and do some good for the environment?" Melissa McCue McGrath, the AWS trainer leading the dogs, asked.
She now has some exciting results, which she shared by letting the dogs do what they do best. NEWS CENTER Maine hid the eggs outside of a car, and Hopper came out nose first. Within seconds, he had found the packet of eggs behind one of the tires.
So, the answer to the big question is yes, dogs can be trained to do some good for the environment, all while being walked by their owners.
AWS has now helped train 15 dogs, inside and outside of the study, to sniff out the spotted lantern fly. McCue-McGrath believes this progress is coming just at the right time.
"It is an invasive species that will decimate almost every crop it can come up against," she said.
The spotted lantern fly isn't in Maine yet, but it has spread to 17 states and is believed to be slowly moving up the Northeast.
"We are in a unique position where we can be proactive and start to get it before it really gets a hold here," McCue-McGrath explained.
The fly has the ability to disrupt any ecosystem it touches, but it might be no match for the noses at the AWS. If every dog learns to sniff like those ones, the flies have an uphill battle ahead.