Award for dog, abandoned five times but now solving wildlife crime

Henry was a "lost soul" who found his purpose as a detection dog

A "superdog" rejected from five homes for his energetic nature has won an international award for his ability to help catch criminals and save wildlife.

Henry, a 10-year-old Springer Spaniel, has been named Animal of the Year by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which recognises the unsung heroes of animal welfare.

He was rescued by Louise Wilson, of Conservation K9 Consultancy in Wrexham, at eight months old when he was a "lost soul" struggling to find a home.

Now Henry can detect seven scents, ranging from birds of prey to hedgehogs, helping police track down those involved in wildlife crime.

Henry can locate bird carcasses and even small monitoring tags removed from birds, and his nose has helped police target criminals who kill or steal birds of prey.

Although not a police dog, he has been invaluable to the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) in their work protecting birds of prey.

Det Insp Mark Harrison, from the NWCU, said Henry's work is crucial in helping police to gather evidence for potential crimes.

"If we don't recover anything, the investigation grinds to a halt," he said.

"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."

Det Insp Harrison also said intelligence showed that offenders are "scared and worried" by the work being done by animals like Henry.

Henry can detect seven different scents including hedgehogs and pine martens

As well as working with police, Henry also helps conservationists with "ecological monitoring", including for pine martens, hedgehogs, otters and water voles.

Louise has worked around the world with dogs detecting firearms, explosives and tobacco, but said Henry was one of a growing number involved in conservation detecting and tackling wildlife crime.

She said Henry's strong will and "unruly energy" make him the perfect detection dog.

"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 said.

Henry was honoured at the awards, presented by wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan

Henry was honoured at the 25th Animal Action Awards in London on Thursday, alongside human conservations from around the world.

Wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan, who presented the awards, described Henry as a "superdog", praising Louise's work training him.

"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," she said.

"The two of them together are a formidable team for wildlife protection."