Grand Canyon National Park Has Gone to the Dogs: Meet Its Newest Canine Employee
From bears becoming food-habituated to traffic collisions with elk, outdoor recreation has always posed a thorny problem. How can people enjoy the great outdoors without harming or interfering with wildlife?
The National Park Service (NPS) has been working for decades to reduce human–wildlife conflicts. Now it’s got a new recruit: a specially trained dog named Blue. She is a certified Catahoula Leopard Hound who recently started working at Grand Canyon National Park to help shepherd wildlife away from busy visitor areas. Blue was “selected for her strong herding instincts, trainability, and calm temperament,” the NPS said in a press release.
Meet Blue
Catahoula Leopard Hounds are a “multi-purpose working dog that is well-muscled and powerful, but with a sense of agility and endurance,” according to the American Kennel Club. That makes Blue genetically gifted for the work she’ll be doing at the National Park.
In her day-to-day, Blue will use barking and herding pressure to move wildlife, such as elk and big-horned sheep, away from busy areas of the park, including the South Rim and Grand Canyon Village. The NPS said animals moving away from her barking is a natural response to a predator cue. She will always be on a leash under a handler’s control and will never make direct contact with any animal.
The Program
Blue is part of the Conservation K-9 Pilot Project, a 3-year pilot program currently in its first year. Dogs in the program are trained to “encourage animals who are habituated to humans … to avoid developed areas where interactions with visitors can be unsafe to both visitors and wildlife,” the NPS explained.
“Grand Canyon’s elk and bighorn sheep have become increasingly comfortable in developed areas over the last two decades,” said Brady Dunne, wildlife biologist and project lead for the pilot program, said. “This project gives us a humane, science-based tool to help encourage more natural wildlife behavior while improving visitor safety.”
Wildlife becoming used to humans can pose several issues. They may block roadways or display aggressive behavior during calving or rutting seasons. If animals display repeated aggressive behavior toward humans, they may be euthanized. Blue’s job is to help prevent the issue from getting that far.