Grand Canyon deploys K-9 pilot program to deter animal encounters

In an effort to reduce the number of encounters between wild animals and humans in certain areas at the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, the national park has deployed Blue, a herding dog with the Conservation K-9 Pilot Project.

For the next three years, South Rim visitors may see the Catahoula leopard dog herding and strategically barking at bighorn sheep and elk in developed areas like the Grand Canyon Visitor Center.

Grand Canyon wildlife biologist Brady Dunne — who is also Blue's owner — says the park’s wildlife is getting too comfortable around humans.

Park staff say it’s causing traffic and safety issues.

“The real danger here is just people putting too much pressure on animals and getting a defensive response like a kick or a stomp,” Dunne said. “And/or … people getting too close, an animal charging a little bit, they get away, and then people tripping and falling.”

So, Dunne says, they started tracking some of their movements.

“We actually collared our animals. We collared nine elk and five bighorn sheep. All of these highly habituated animals,” Dunne said. “And we’re just proving it [to] the scientific community because this is just a new technique: [using] K-9 to dishabituate animals. “

And, a release said, non-lethal “management tools,” like paintball guns or making loud noises, “have had mixed results.”

“Historically we use tools like human hazing like people going up and going ‘hey, come on elk, move,’ well the elk don’t really care about that. They think of you as another visitor whether you’re wearing a badge or not. And so they return,” Dunne said.

So while leashed, Blue will work alongside park staff, like Dunne, to help reduce human-animal conflicts.

“All she really does is bark and be a wolf in presence but never touch the elk. And we just do that over and over,” Dunne said.

He also says using dogs like this is relatively new for national parks.

“Denali National Park has a bear dog for grizzly bears, Yosemite has a bear dog for black bears, Glacier was the only one to try and use [a dog] on non-bear species,” Dunne said. “So Glacier sort of sets the tone, and Grand Canyon, what we’re doing is we’re actually doing what no one’s doing which is collaring our animals and scientifically proving it.”

South Rim visitors are asked to never approach, feed, haze or attempt to move wildlife.

“When a 400-pound elk is defending a calf that is in the bushes, and you want to come up and get close and take a picture, [the] mom can run after you, she can bump you down with ease because they’re almost as big as a horse,” Dunne said.