A two-year-old fox red labrador named Woody has become the latest wildlife worker on Rathlin Island off the Co Antrim coast.
Woody has been recruited to help with the world's first ferret eradication programme on an inhabited island.
Michael Rafferty, fieldwork manager with environmental group LIFE Raft explained that the island has a ferret and rat problem.
The issue is negatively impacting the ground nesting bird population and seabird colonies such as the Manx shearwaters, puffins and corncrakes.
The ferrets were originally brought to Rathlin Island in the 1970s to assist with the amount of rabbits on the island, but after this, they started to become a problem for native wildlife.
He told RTÉ's News at One that Woody will help the team detect the last remaining ferrets by identifying their droppings.
After that, Woody's focus will be rats and trying to identify their droppings.
Mr Rafferty said Woody was a bundle of energy, saying he is "ready to go".
"When he does a find on the island or whenever he’s working, we reward him with his ball and that’s the game for him," he added.
