Author: McKinley Corbley / Source: Good News Network
If a wild bear is shown to display risky behavior towards people or property, animal control officers have historically had two ways of handling it: either relocate the bear or euthanize it.
Thankfully, wildlife specialists have come up with an efficient, non-lethal third option.
As a means of protecting both people and bears, these Karelian bear dogs have been trained to act as “bear shepherds” in high-risk areas.
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The fearless canine breed first became officially employed by wildlife rangers back in the 90s when researchers started exploring alternative options for bear control. Though catch and release was favored for its non-violent approach against troublesome bears, the relocated mammals would often return to their original places of capture, sometimes within a matter of days, even after being transported hundreds of miles away.
Bears will often return to populated urban areas because it can smell human food that can be dug out of the trash. This often results in aggressive behavior towards humans, which will generally lead to the bears being captured and euthanized.
Rather than risk harming the bears or allowing them to return to populated areas, wildlife biologists started exploring the possibility of using Karelian bear dogs to scare the problematic predators away from areas inhabited by humans.
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Ever since animal control specialists started training the dogs at the Wind River…
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