Dogs More Effective Than Any Other Method at Finding Oil Spills under Ice with Practical Implications for Protecting Water Supplies and Oceans: New Study

January 21, 2025; WINNIPEG—Scientists in Canada have discovered, for the first time, that dogs can sniff out certain types of oil spilled under ice in freshwater lakes, with a 100% success rate.

In research conducted just last week in freshwater lakes at IISD Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario, specially trained detection dogs were able to definitively detect the location of two types of oil under lake ice, in six out of six instances in a double-blind study that resulted in no false negative results.

“These findings have enormous implications for speeding up how we deal with oil spills and protecting our freshwaters,” said Vince Palace, Head Research Scientist, IISD Experimental Lakes Area.

“Over the years, we have tried sonar, radar, fluorescence, optical sensors, and old-fashioned, labour-intensive drilling—even the human eye with lights under the ice—but even our most sensitive scientific instruments and manual methods cannot come close to the 100% success rate of our canine friends. Oil Detection Canines (ODCs) are quick—covering up to 400 square metres in twenty minutes—they’re relatively inexpensive to train, and they’re evidently extremely accurate.”

When dealing with the aftermath of an oil spill from a marine pipeline under ice, response teams can spend much of their precious time determining where exactly the oil has spilled before taking action to clean up—a situation made much worse when working in frozen and harsh conditions.

Using dogs in the initial response, with their proven speed and accuracy, could greatly assist the process of oil spill response and clean-up, resulting in less of an impact on our precious and fragile freshwater ecosystems.

“The potential power of the canine nose to make oil spill clean-ups more effective is incredible, but we shouldn’t limit ourselves,” said Paul Bunker, Founder and Principal, Chiron K9 LLC.

“It is now clear that dogs’ unsurpassed olfactory skills should not just be limited to detecting illegal substances in airports or locating earthquake victims (both of which are critically important) but can also be used to enhance environmental protection by more accurately and quickly locating a spill under ice.”

This study is part of a broader research project currently being conducted on freshwater lakes at IISD Experimental Lakes Area to determine the effectiveness of ODCs to detect oil under ice and is being carried out with funding from the United States Coast Guard Great Lakes Oil Spill Center of Expertise and in collaboration with Chiron K9, Owens Coastal Consultants, DF Dickins and SLRoss.

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For more information, or to coordinate an interview with one of the scientists, please contact:

Sumeep Bath

Editorial and Communications Manager, IISD Experimental Lakes Area

[email protected]