Karelian Bear Dogs Proposal

Goals and Objectives

To test and document the efficacy of using Karelian bear dogs in a variety of bear and cougar management applications and help improve public safety in Washington.

Background

The use of dogs in wildlife management has broad historical application (Zwickel 1980-see attached). Currently, 16 Karelian bear dogs (KBD’s) are being used by several agencies in bear and cougar programs for a variety of wildlife management activities. These agencies include Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, Alaska Fish and Game, Alberta Ministry of Sustainable Resources, North Cascades National Park, Glacier National Park, Banff Provincial Park, Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and the Picchio Wildlife Research Team in Japan. During the 8-year span that KBD’s have been used in wildlife management activities, which includes over 250 bear/cougar incidents per year, there have been no aggressive incidents with bears and cougars and no injuries to people, bears, cougars, or KBD’s.

Often there is a misperception that KBD’s are used only for bear shepherding purposes. On the contrary, the agencies listed above have found that there is broad application for KBD’s, including aversive conditioning, physical bear and cougar capture (useful for population estimation), investigation and verification of bear/cougar sightings in human conflict circumstance (improved public response), locating injured wildlife, locating prey items based on telemetry clusters, classroom demonstrations, public presentations, and improving safety for wildlife personnel as well the public.

The Karelian bear dog (KBD), largely unknown in most parts of the world, has been bred and used by grizzly bear hunters in Finland and Russia for centuries. The Karelian is black and white, 55-60 pounds as an adult, and their body is similar to the shape of a Husky. These dogs are highly intelligent, have tremendous tracking abilities, and are sensitive and fearless, independent and purposeful, with an innate love for people and children. When trained, one KBD can easily tree or hold at bay any bear and silently track cougar until encounter, then bark to tree.

The KBD program has been very successful and has been featured on National Geographic Explorer, Animal Planet, in The New York Times, and enjoyed international publicity. This will continue with features on CBS, ABC, and BBC, as well as with various magazines. There was a featured piece on National Public Radio during a recent training seminar at Ross Lake in the North Cascades and at Lake Wenatchee, Washington.

B. Problem and Need

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has experienced increasing bear/cougar encounters with humans since the early 1990’s and these problems continue today. To date, the use of traditional techniques has been the foundation of the WDFW program to resolve bear/cougar conflicts with humans. Our general public, often with intense media attention, increasingly look to WDFW agency personnel to address these problems using new and innovative techniques, as well as non-lethal approaches whenever possible.

Below are some of the needs that can be addressed with KBD’s:

Relocation and Euthanasia

Traditionally, within urban/suburban and rural interface areas occupied by humans, management of bear and cougar conflicts has been limited to relocation or euthanasia of conflict animals. Relocation of bear and cougar has application in wildlife management, but in many cases only puts the animal at further risk since; (1) most other habitats in Washington are already occupied, which could lead to intra-species strife (2) the animal is not familiar with the habitat it is relocated into, thus making it difficult to acquire food resources, and, (3) most large carnivores move long distances after relocation, increasing the risk of being killed on roadways or being involved in another conflict situation, further exacerbating the problem. Typically, relocation and euthanasia treat the symptoms, not the root cause of these behavior problems. In some instances, when circumstances are appropriate, hunting may be used to address these problems. However, more recently, general public opinion has shifted toward stronger support for predators and a less support for these traditional predator control methods. In a recent public opinion survey in Washington, the vast majority of the public surveyed supported creative and new methodology to address conflict problems (Duda 2002). To help maintain public support for traditional control methods, management agencies need to ensure they demonstrate to the public a commitment that strives for new and innovative control approaches, combined with traditional approaches and hunting when appropriate.

Public Safety (a primary factor in the creation of the bear/cougar positions)

Often, Agency biologists respond to residences from public calls on bear and cougar sightings with limited tools. Most notably, the ability to track and locate the animal, determine if an animal is in the immediate area, the direction of travel, locate potential prey killed by these animals, and the ability to confirm presence or absence to the reporting party and assure local residences it is safe. The unpredictable nature and odd and unusual hours of these events most often make it logistically difficult to contact local hound handlers for assistance. Typically, when we do contact a hound handler, it is hours before they can arrive and it costs, on average, $100 per call-out resulting in thousands of dollars spent per year. The pilot project, with the use of the KBD, will be designed to help address these concerns in eastern and western Washington. It has already been demonstrated in western WA that the public has extreme confidence in the ability of a KBD to detect the presence of a bear or cougar, lending increased credibility to the Department.

As proven in western Washington in only 1 year, the KBD’s have been tremendous ambassadors for Agencies, demonstrating to the public a commitment to resolve bear and cougar conflicts with humans in a proactive manner. This improves public credibility and acceptance when wildlife officials encounter those circumstances that warrant the use of traditional techniques of relocation, euthanasia, and hunting to resolve conflicts.

Capture Work

Capture work is an integral component of our responsibilities and duties. Physical capture for monitoring provides WDFW with a wealth of information from survival, reproduction, and population estimation data. With their superb tracking and treeing abilities, the KBD can improve our ability to address these needs in a safe and efficient manner, without contracting with hound handlers. The KBD can also improve our flexibility to conduct these activates because it is available 24 hours a day, allowing us to respond at a moments notice to capture, recapture, or to locate an animal based on track or sign. The agency has never had the opportunity to use dogs (KBD’s) for this purpose without the total reliance on outside sources. We feel this will add a high degree of professionalism to the agency and the biologist on the ground.

Funding Request

We are seeking donations to purchase a Karelian Bear Dog and provide continued training from WRBI and the Partners In Life Program. Wildlife Biologist Rich Beausoleil will be the dog owner and handler. This KBD will complement and expand the current work by Rocky Spencer, Wildlife Biologist and his dog-Mishka, in Washington State. Rich will cover food, veterinarian visits and costs, and kennel requirements. Donors will be recognized in printed, TV, and radio media releases as the project is implemented. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Funding Request

Karelian Bear Dog and Specialized Training*

3500.00

* this involves working with Carrie Hunt, the existing WRBI Partners in Life Program, and trained other KBD’s over the next 1.5 years on commands, bear tracking and aversion training techniques, kill site investigations, and cougar capture and tracking..

Your generous donations should be sent to the address below: Checks can be made out to The Wind River Bear (WRBI) – Washington KBD

Tucker Memorial Fund
PMB 272
914 - 164th Street SE
Mill Creek, WA 98012