Wind River Bear Institute

The key component to this technique is the use of the Karelian bear dog. Unknown in most parts of the world, the breed has been bred and used by grizzly bear and moose hunters and farmers in Finland and western Russia for centuries. Just as a border collie has an instinct for moving sheep, some Karelian dogs out of each litter are born with an instinct for handling bears safely. WRBI uses the dogs for deterrence, aversive conditioning, monitoring, tracking, patrolling, investigation of conflict scenarios, finding food attractants, capture, early warning, a safety net during conditioning of bears and public education.

Hunt and her team of Karelians, as well as her people team of trained dog handlers, are contracted to work bear conflict areas all over the West and in Canada. This year, Eilu and Gracie, a mother and daughter team, worked one of the largest grain spills in the western United States. They spent three months on the spill last fall and three more months this spring, keeping bears from coming onto the train tracks on Marias Pass near Essex. “They were really big and important on the grain spill,” said Renee VanCamp, WRBI kennel manager . “They patrolled the upper perimeter of the grain spill across the tracks. We were backed up against a steep embankment with two large trains going by on either side. You have to have really stellar dogs who are very confident and composed for that kind of work.”

According to VanCamp, the dogs had to deal with “critter getters” going off - loud sirens that warn wildlife to get off of the train tracks. Also, cannons were going off on each end of the tracks to deter bears. “It was a dark, noisy, cold, loud, nerve-racking situation,” says VanCamp. “The dogs learned how to walk up to the cannons and not be afraid. Every time the critter-getters would go off, we'd make it a big party. We do everything super positive. We don't have fearful dogs, rather they think a lot and are very noise sensitive. Because of that, we have to make everything fun for them.” The same goes for gun training. Because bear aversion techniques often require the shooting of firecrackers and rubber bullets, the dogs must be conditioned to those sounds.
“Gun training is a big party,” VanCamp said. “The dogs are running into the smoke, running into the shooter, having lots of fun.”
Blaze, Satchmo and Cassidy were the members of a three-dog team that patrolled an area near Canmore, Alberta.
“Last year there was a fatal mauling in town,” said KBD handler Russ Talmo. “It is a high bear-human conflict area because there are tight valleys with great grizzly bear habitat, but also lots of recreation.”

Talmo and his dog Satchmo patrolled a section of Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, where, according to Talmo, there are tons of bears, as well as large numbers of tourists who aren't necessarily educated about recreating in bear country.
This year, however, there were no bear mortalities on all of the projects that WRBI worked.
“Zero bear mortalities is pretty impressive,” VanCamp said. “Considering some of us were in a corridor of grizzly habitat with tracks covered in grain, with ranchland and farmland just beyond those tracks with sheds that housed grain, it's a tribute to the dogs that no bears were shot.”

Currently, in areas where human development overlaps with bear habitat, Hunt and her team of bear conflict biologists teach people how to avoid attracting bears into conflict situations and how to report bear activity early, before the bear develops problem behavior. Along with presentations to agencies, schools and land-use groups, WRBI provides on-site consultation that secures bear attractants for landowners. Each month, Hunt and her team contact hundreds of new homeowners and recreationists, teaching them how to live responsibly in bear country. WRBI also develops community conflict prevention programs. Hunt hopes to expand the bear shepherding technique and her educational programs to many parts of the globe.

Since 1996, the WRBI team has worked in Yosemite and Glacier National Parks, northwest Montana, California and the North Cascades of Washington. In Canada, the teams have worked in Waterton, Lake Louise and Banff National Parks and southwest Alberta. There are requests for teams in Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, New Jersey, British Columbia, South America and Japan, and Hunt is working with groups in those places to secure funding for projects.

Montana wildlife officials estimate that, through the efforts of WRBI, in only two years, more than 18 grizzly bears were saved in northwest Montana. Following the 2001 field season, the Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator announced that there was only one large area in the lower 48 states that did not remove “problem” grizzly bears. He attributed the success of this area in northwestern Montana primarily to the work done by WRBI.

The next generation of WRBI Karelian bear dogs is represented by Akela, a 9-month-old pup who already shows promise. Four of his brothers and sisters went to Canada and one went to Washington, where they all work to protect bears. Akela and the rest of the WRBI dogs train throughout the winter, practicing the many commands they need to know in the field. “This time of year, it's all about teaching ‘find it' and ‘bark' and ‘come' and ‘leave it' and ‘gee' and ‘haw' and all the other commands,” Hunt said. “We're also learning how each dog indicates there's a bear and learning to read them properly.” “Everything we do here, in essence, is to save wild bears,” VanCamp said. “From brushing a dog, to cleaning up poop, to checking their feet, to vetting, to public outreach - everything we do on the ranch is to save a wild bear out in the middle of nowhere. If the dogs are healthy, happy and well-trained, they can go at the drop of a hat to save a bear.”

Next to the photo of Tuffy in front of the television are dozens of other photographs of his teammates. Most of the photos are of the golden-eyed Karelian bear dogs in lush, desolate and glaciated places - places where wild bears roam free and places where us humans can go to feel alive. There are the bears, there are the people, and there are the Karelian bear dogs in between, saving one from the other.

Reporter Kristin Knight can be reached at 363-3300 or kknight@ravallirepublic.com