In Nevada, an increase in the black bear population is colliding with a growth in urban development. They are increasingly coming into conflict with humans. With warmer temperatures resulting from the climate crisis and more human foods readily available, bears may even delay hibernation.Ī grizzly bear. Bears may be tempted to visit human-dominated areas with easy to access food sources such as rubbish bins, chicken coops, bird feeders or fruit trees, especially in the summer and autumn, when they need to store energy for hibernation. As a result, people and predators are forced to share space, setting the stage for increased human-wildlife conflicts. In North America, bears live in landscapes where the human footprint is expanding. Karelian bear dogs are increasingly being used by wildlife and land managers not just in the US, but in Canada and even Japan to encourage social distancing between humans and wildlife. “He helped us detect bears and push them out of an area if we needed to. “He was integrated into almost every facet of what we do as a wildlife management crew,” says Colligan, former lead wildlife technician for the park. When they are ready, the dogs are deployed across North America – for example, working with the Alaska fire service to keep firefighters safe on callouts and at the same time reduce the number of bears that are killed each year.īetween 20, dog handler Greg Colligan worked with one puppy on its first assignment helping to resolve conflicts between people and grizzly bears in Alaska’s Denali national park and preserve.
Hunt during a training session with a Karelian bear dog puppy and bear carcass. “What we want to see is a dog that has an intrinsic motivation to hunt and find anything new and scary.” It is important for the safety of the people we are placing the dogs with,” says Nils Pedersen, director of the institute. “We are looking to figure out which ones have the right stuff. Just 20% of a litter will make the cut as bear conflict dogs, where a wrong move or slightest hesitation can lead to serious injury.
INTO THE WILDERNESS DOG FOOD SERIES
Karelian puppies undergo a series of tests in which trainers teach them the right behaviours and evaluate their personality and how they react in situations that involve stuffed bears and cougars placed in the field. “I wanted to make things safer for bears and people,” she says. Hunt founded the Wind River Bear Institute in 1996, where she trains Karelian bear dogs to scare away bears that get too close to human settlements and that would otherwise be killed. Carrie Hunt, founder of the Wind River Bear Institute in Montana, with two bear conflict dogs.
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