Tahoe’s bears can get too comfortable with humans. These dogs help bring back healthy fear (www.tahoedailytribune.com)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz to c/solarpunk@slrpnk.net

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“[The bears’] experiences for the most part around people have been positive,” Lackey said. “We’re just trying to give them a bad experience around people.”

The dogs also assist in hazing other wildlife such as mountain lions and deer, wriggle beneath houses with Lackey and Carniello to remove bears in crawl spaces and serve as ambassadors for NDOW and the biologists as they work to educate people about how to make their properties less attractive to bears.

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Conservation efforts and habitat restoration regeneration worked, and in the 1990s, Nevada’s bear population exploded. Nevada’s bear population now hovers between 600 and 700 across western Nevada, from far northern Washoe County down to the state line around Topaz and east to near Walker Lake.

Lackey and Carniello, along with Badger and Banjo, respond to dozens of bear-related incidents across Northern Nevada each year when bears exhibit unusual behavior or are somewhere they shouldn’t be, such as inside a house. Most of the bears are captured and released back into the wild, near where they were picked up, with Badger and Banjo’s help.

“They really add a level of comfort and safety for us when we’re in some of these close situations,” Carniello said. “This can be a really challenging job … and it’s really cool to have someone with you who adores you.”

Man's Best Coworker Too

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[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 7 points 4 days ago

Meet Banjo and Badger, two dogs...

The dog on the left is a heckin' chonker. Looks kinda like a bear himself.

[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 6 points 4 days ago

Dogs look like all kinds of stuff according to research.

[-] LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 7 points 4 days ago

I dunno', kinda' sounds like bigotry training for dogs, IMO!

... /s, ish

[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 7 points 4 days ago

No, they are training the Dogs to be Unbearable! Or is it Bearable? Now I am confused.

[-] imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Wow, super interesting article. I love how they simply describe it as hazing the wildlife. Pretty sure I've never heard that term outside of a human-human context, but it's a funny way to describe what they're trying to do.

This anecdote was also funny

Lackey once responded to a call from Tahoe, where the lead singer of the 1980s hair band Whitesnake had a house. A bear had broken into the house, swam in the indoor pool and was ambling down the hall toward the recording studio. By the time Lackey made it up there the bear was gone, so he set a trap. A couple days later, a bear was caught.

When Lackey arrived at the property and looked in the trap, he noticed it was a different bear than the prior one. As Lackey was dealing with the trapped bear, the bear he intended to trap walked past, ignoring Lackey and his bear dogs, and headed for the house. Lackey released the dogs, and they immediately chased the bear up a tree.

I guess this kind of thing happens when you build a 10,000 foot estate in a remote area that was formerly wilderness until fairly recently. Good for the bears, ransack that house for all it's worth. Late 80s music has to be among the worst eras in popular music history. That shit has not aged well, and I resent the fact that this dude became a multimillionaire from that bland garbage.

[-] lettruthout@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

I’m southern california we’re told to haze coyotes.

[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I very lightly do this to deer when they are hanging out all sketchy at night right next to fast country roads with that look in their eye like you know they are just itching to get spooked and leap out in front of a car.

Cars are too quiet, I roll down my window and yell at em to get out of the road.

[-] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Just wait until you find out that when bears are causing trouble they get labeled “problem bears”

Like, I think the bear is just being a bear, but hes the problem somehow smh

[-] MummifiedClient5000@feddit.dk 2 points 4 days ago

But what if the dogs get too comfortable with the bears? Maybe start hanging out, teaming up and doing heists? Playing a dangerous game here.

[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Dogs aren't the issue, what you gotta watch out for is a raccoon and trash truck teaming up with a bear and establishing local antifa cells with radical disenfranchised and delusional youths connected and guided into extremist authoritarian lessons by husbandless Mouse-ist librarian type old ladies!! Sure the nice old lady mouse that JUST HAPPENS to live on the outskirts of the nice clean part of town sure sounds Australian, but does she really look Australian to you?