An English springer spaniel named Eco has the fate of hundreds in her hands.
The hound has been trained to protect the last remaining little penguin colony on mainland New South Wales.
She will sniff out the tiny endangered penguins - which stand about 30cm tall and weigh about 1kg when fully grown - as well as their biggest threats - foxes, dogs and cats.
Yesterday marked Eco's first official day at work at Manly, in Sydney's north.
The colony, which once numbered in the hundreds, now has only about 60 pairs of birds.
