Henry the Dog Earns Award for Protecting Wildlife
In northwestern Europe, the United Kingdom, a ten-year-old Springer Spaniel, Henry, was nominated Animal of the Year this year by the International Fund for Animal Welfare for rescuing wildlife.
Henry is a very energetic dog who has had a tough start in life: he was rejected by five homes. Henry finally got adopted by Louise Wilson, the owner of Conservation K9 Consultancy, at eight months old. They have been working together to find predator birds that were taken or killed by criminals.
Henry and Louise teamed up with the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit and helped the police locate people who have committed wildlife crimes. Henry’s job is vital since it finds information about wildlife harm.
“We had a search recently and underneath a load of heather where you couldn’t see a thing from the surface, Henry recovered a tiny bird’s skull,” says Detective Inspector of the National Wildlife Crime Unit, Mark Harrison. Henry can also find bird carcasses and monitoring tags that were taken off birds. By doing those things, he has been discovering wildlife harm as evidence of crimes.
Training
As Henry is an energetic dog, training him is a challenge for Louise. However, she successfully trained him to detect wildlife harm, earning him an award. According to Louise Wilson, “He’s got so much energy and drive, and as soon as we trained him for conservation detection, we were able to give him focus.” She was able to do this by making him practice consistently.
Louise says, “What Henry really wants is his tennis ball, so that is the reward when a hedgehog is found – not the hedgehog itself! Henry and I have a quick play session while Lucy checks on the hedgehog, and then we move on to look for the next one.”
Michaela Strachan, who is a wildlife presenter and gave Henry the award, commented, “To be able to train a dog like Henry to do the work that he does needs an enormous amount of time, patience, dedication, and commitment.”
As a result of Henry and Louise’s hard work and teamwork, Henry can identify seven scents, such as birds of prey, pine martens, otters, and hedgehogs. This supports conservationists who observe wildlife.
Award
Henry was awarded at the 25th Animal Action Awards on Thursday, October 16, 2025, in London. At the ceremony, Michaela Strachan called Henry a “superdog”. She acknowledged Henry and Louise, “The two of them together are a formidable wildlife protection team.”
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