More than a few people have asked me if I am the one with a Karelian Bear Dog (KBD) who, for a fee, can push bears off their property.
No, I am not.
Though my KBD came from Wind River Bear Institute, she is specifically trained to find dead animal parts, not to push bears. Plus I had her trained to stay focused when firearms are discharged.
Though I did work as a bear management specialist in Glacier NP and road patrol law enforcement in Yellowstone as a seasonal, and a full-time year-round federal law enforcement officer for US Fish and Wildlife Service, I will not misrepresent my KBD and what we do.
Not many years ago, I was asked by MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 2 bear management specialist to assist one summer with bear issues in the Ovando area plus my KBD and I were hired under my federal government contract to look for carcasses. But my KBD and I do not do any “bear work” on our own.
A little history:
I knew Carrie Hunt in the early 80’s when I was an undergrad in wildlife biology and Carrie was a grad student at the University of Montana. Carrie’s graduate work was conducting field research on the feasibility of using pepper spray on bears.
Then in the early 90’s she looked for a breed of dog that would be a suitable adjunct in pushing bears, especially grizzlies, from developed areas. The breed she found is the KBD from Karelia, Finland. Though their registered name is Karelian Bear Dog, most KBDs are not trained for bear work.
Carrie founded the Wind River Bear Institute to develop a program of using highly trained KBDs specifically for bear work in and out of National Parks. I was actually fortunate to be able to work with Carrie and her KBD team when Glacier National Park contracted her to work bears that we specialists had noted were particularly habituated to developed areas inside the park.
Wind River Bear Institute KBDs are highly trained to push bears and are handled by bear experts, mostly biologists, and in the state of Washington by several of their wildlife law enforcement officers.
Yes, most bears are in their dens now. But come spring, anyone with bears who are habituated to hanging around property, please call MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks to have an expert deal with the issue.
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