Six-year-old Cocker Spaniel Gem is now fully trained to detect Hen Harrier remains and satellite tags, thanks to the funding from our 2025 Wildlife Crime Detection Dogs Appeal
Back in May of this year at Skydancer Day we interviewed DI Mark Harrison from the National Wildlife Crime Unit, and he introduced us to handler Kevin from the Conservation K9 Consultancy team, accompanied by a lovely little Cocker Spaniel called Gem.
At the time, although Gem was already trained on some scats and scents, we hoped to raise the funds to ensure that Gem could be trained to locate Hen Harrier remains and tags, and join her canine colleague Henry in the field with the NWCU and local police forces in their searches.
We’re delighted to report that, thanks to the generous donations from our supporters to that Appeal, Gem is now a fully trained wildlife crime detection dog, able to locate Hen Harrier remains in the field. The huge response to the appeal, raising over £11,000 in less than three weeks, meant that not only was Gem’s training completed, but the money raised is also continuing to support deployments throughout the country, and locating important evidence of wildlife crime.
In the last two months alone, the appeal funds have financed searches for a missing Golden Eagle in Dumfries, suspicious disappearances of Hen Harriers in Wales and Northumberland, and for a White-tailed Eagle in Wales.
Gem now joins her wildlife crime detection dog colleague Henry, recently named Animal of the Year at the prestigious International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) awards, with both both being fully trained and capable of deployment for missing Hen Harriers.
With many instances of Hen Harrier disappearances being reported in 2025, this gives much-needed extra support for the NWCU, RSPB and multi-agency teams tasked with searching remote and often unforgiving moorland terrain for missing birds.
Gem had an unpromising start to life, being rescued and rehomed by the CK9C team at 8 weeks old, having been found roaming the countryside.
Now aged about six years, MD Louise Wilson says of Gem, “She’s a little girl with great attitude! She is born to work and, when at home, tries to fit as many toys as she can into her mouth!”
We’re delighted that, thanks to that invaluable funding, wildlife crime detection dogs like Henry and Gem are always on call. As DI Harrison remarked, “These detection dogs are a gamechanger for wildlife crime, working with police offices to find evidence and act as a deterrent to criminals”.