A dog handling company from Wrexham was chosen to assess the Sir David Attenborough vessel prior to it's maiden voyage.

Conservation K9 Consultancy, based near Erddig had been selected to ensure that the new ship was biosecure and ready to set sail.

The new £200m vessel will transform how ship-borne science is conducted in the polar regions and provide scientists with state-of-the-art facilities to research the oceans, seafloor, ice and atmosphere, British Antarctic Survey said.

The Attenborough, named after the TV naturalist and BBC presenter Sir David, is the ship the public wanted to call "Boaty McBoatface" in an online poll but were overruled by ministers.

It set sail for Antarctica on the 16th November, after Louise Wilson and her crew at Conservation K9 Consultancy gave it the all clear.

Louise discussed how how the opportunity arose and the type of work they carried out on board.

"Back in 2019 we were approached by Working Dogs for Conservation who are based in USA, to help them on there prestigious biosecurity project working with British Antarctic Survey and The Government of South Georgia," she said.

"I was asked to visit the Falkland islands to work with and assist in training and consultancy for the existing Biosecurity dog team that work there on vessels. We were then employed by Working Dogs for Conservation, to conduct Biosecurity Searches on vessels in the UK that were heading to South Georgia.

"This work has been happening since 2019 , and we are the only UK biosecurity detection dog teams that are certified by Working Dogs For Conservation that have operational and experienced rodent/vermin detection dogs.

"This year brought the opportunity to be the first detection dogs onboard the Sir David Attenborough vessel which we are so proud of."

She added, "these searches are for vermin detection using our specialist search dogs, including live rats and mice and fresh faeces. This is particularly important to ensure no vermin stowaway on the vessels heading for South Georgia as in 2018 South Georgia was declared rodent free after millions of pounds had been spent to work on vermin eradication.

"Our most recent deployment was on the amazing Sir David Attenborough vessel prior to its maiden voyage, we have been based in Harwich doing searches on the vessel including its helicopter pads, it’s multiple decks cabins and conference rooms. We have also been tasked to search all cargo, equipment, machinery and stores heading on the vessel before its departure. We have now finished our biosecurity detection searches after two weeks .

"Vermin detection dogs are increasingly needed to help with biosecurity , irradiation and bird protection and conservation! So we have lots of work planned for the future with our biosecurity dogs and we have more in training, this includes more vessel searches, building searches and island searches."

For more information about the work Louise and her team are up to visit: https://www.conservationk9consultancy.com/our-story/