Meet Washington’s bear dog enforcers

Bears are now starting to venture out of their dens after
a long winter’s nap, and many are finding themselves
attracted to the sweet smells of neighborhood garbage.

But if they wander too close, there is a good chance they
will be met by one of the newest members of Washington’s
Fish and Wildlife Department: Savute, a Karelian Bear
Dog.

I had the chance to ride along while Savute and his
partner, Officer Chris Moszeter, while on patrol in
Snoqualmie.

“The folks built these homes in amongst the woods. You
have to learn to cohabitate with the wildlife that is
there,” Moszeter says.

An officer with Fish and Wildlife’s Enforcement Program,
Moszeter is the one who might come to your neighborhood if
a wild animal gets too close for comfort. This time of
year, he says, bears are hungry. Their noses are several
hundred times more sensitive than even a dog’s.

“A small suet feeder or bird feeder, on a good day, a bear
can smell that from a mile to a mile and a half away,”
says Moszeter.

But, by far, the biggest problem is garbage. Bears learn
a neighborhood’s garbage day and wait until the night
before to go on the prowl for snacks.

Bears snooping through garbage usually does not lead to
anything more than a mess, but sometimes the bears get too
familiar with people and don’t keep their distance. That
is when they call in the “big dog,” Savute.

He is a Karelian Bear Dog, a species that has been
bred for centuries in Finland to go after big game.

“The black bear is actually one of the smallest animals
that they’ve been bred to hunt. They hunt grizzly bear,
black bear, moose, elk, you name it. Anything that’s
crawled around Finland over the last few centuries has
probably been hunted by a Karelian,” Moszeter says.

Washington: The First Karelian Enforcers

There are only about 150 working bear dogs in the world.
Most of them are used by wildlife biologists to track down
animals they want to tag or study.

Washington is the first and only state in the country to
use the Karelian in their enforcement program. Officer
Moszeter says not only can they track down a bear in the
blink of an eye, the dogs have also allowed them to go
from a trap and release response to hazing of problem
bears.

After catching the bear, officers release the animal in a
controlled setting right next to the houses and the
garbage. They hit him with rubber bullets and allow the
dog to bark and chase him for a bit. That’s usually
enough to convince the bear to never come back.

“The bear quickly realizes that these dogs won’t back
down. So the bear runs off […] and they learn that, ‘OK,
every time I show up around humans, it’s a bad day for
me,'” says Moszeter.

It’s a tactic that Moszeter says is safer for the animal
and has about an 80 percent success rate.

Other agencies are also taking advantage of the Karelian’s
talent. When the National Park Service caught an elk
poacher in the Olympic National Park, they spent more than
600 man hours trying to locate the evidence of his kill.
Once there was a Karelian on the scene, the carcass was
discovered in a matter of minutes. The poacher ended up
pleading guilty to the crime.

Moszeter says the dog’s natural abilities only need to be
focused.

“They were bred to go. That’s not something I can afford.
I can’t let my dog just go. He needs to come back when I
call him. So, the hardest thing that we have to work with
these dogs is the obedience,” says Moszeter.

Savute was only the second bear dog in Washington Fish and
Wildlife’s enforcement program. They now have six across
the state.

The Meat of the Bear Problem

Officer Moszeter and Savute respond to bear calls all
across King County, although the hot beds seem to be in
Issaquah, Sammamish, and the Snoqualmie Valley.

One of the biggest issues in Snoqualmie is what neighbors
call the “cottage” homes. They are houses built without
garages or fenced-in yards. Residents in those homes have
no way to secure their trash. Moszeter is hoping the
community will come together to put bear-proof dumpsters
in those neighborhoods.

For those people who have garages, but still insist on
leaving their garbage out for several days in a row, there
is a new state law that will take effect in July, allowing
officers to write a warning to anyone who is
even inadvertently feeding bear. If the issue is not
resolved within 72 hours, the officers will be able to
write a ticket and fine the offender.

Moszeter says the best thing to do if you are having bear
issues in your neighborhood is to get everyone to keep
their trash secure. Waste Management, for example, offers
a bear-proof trash can which you can order to replace the
typical container.

Also, Moszeter says bird and squirrel feeders can tempt
bears just as much as they do smaller animals. He says it
is probably best to get rid of them altogether.

How to Help

There is no taxpayer money spent on the Bear Dog program.
Everything from dog food and vet bills to training and
harnesses comes through public donations.

If you would like to donate, contact the Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s Mill Creek Office at (425) 775-1211.