Who We Are
Kelly Phipps
Founder/Director and Detection Dog Handler
Kelly Phipps is the founder, director and canine handler for K9 Enviro Group. Her lifelong love of animals, especially dogs, has shaped much of her life and work.
Kelly has more than 25 years of experience in the energy sector, focusing on damage prevention, Indigenous relations and environmental field support. She founded the charitable organization Canine Action Project, partnering with First Nations on community-led dog management and animal health initiatives. Later, she founded the not-for-profit One Health Dog Equity, contributing to international efforts to eliminate human deaths from dog-mediated rabies.
Her work has been published in Zoonoses and Public Health. She also presented research in three categories at the 2014 Global Development Symposium, Critical Links Between Human and Animal Health.
While working in South Africa with One Health Dog Equity, Kelly became more interested in wildlife conservation and using trained dogs in conservation science. This experience led her to establish K9 Enviro Group and train Jax as a conservation and environmental detection dog.
Behind the scenes, Kelly is also an accomplished artist working in oil and acrylic painting.
Dr. Anna H. Weyher
Wildlife Biologist & Conservation Advisor
Anna brings extensive experience in wildlife behaviour, field research and community-based conservation to K9 Enviro Group.
She founded and led the Kasanka Baboon Project in Zambia, where over 15 years of field research helped advance understanding of Kinda baboons' behaviour and ecology. She also has extensive experience in community-based conservation, environmental education, and nonprofit leadership.
She holds a PhD in Biological Anthropology. Her research has been published in scientific journals including Animal Behaviour, Journal of Human Evolution and Hormones and Behaviour, and her work has been featured by the BBC, NPR's Science Friday, Smithsonian Earth and National Geographic.
A lifelong dog lover, Anna appreciates the unique capabilities of working dogs and their growing role in conservation science. At K9 Enviro Group, she applies her wildlife and research expertise to support conservation detection dog projects, including study design, ecological interpretation, and evidence-based wildlife monitoring.
Canine Jax
Environmental and Conservation Detection Dog
Jax is a rescued Belgian Malinois who had a rough start in life. He was surrendered to the San Bernardino, California, animal shelter, then transferred to the Woof Project Rescue, where Kelly adopted him, and he moved to Canada to start his career as a detection dog.
Jax began his detection career working with bear scat and has supported a community-led urban bear monitoring project. He later expanded his scent repertoire to truffles, landing a job on a truffle farm where he stayed focused even amid distractions, including goats, horses, and chickens.
Jax is also trained in hydrocarbon detection and has completed fieldwork locating diesel contamination alongside Keystone Environmental. He is also currently learning to detect cougar scat.
Outside of work, Jax loves being in the water and pretending he can swim like a lab. Bath time is also high on his list. He loves Kelly and takes on many adventures in the forest with her by his side. Jax’s favourite toy is his ball, which he only gets when he is working. But he takes that frustration out on his maligator toys! However, his ball is his greatest reward, and when it comes out, he knows it's time to get down to business.