Grand Canyon adds new dog to help reduce wildlife interactions with visitors

GRAND CANYON, AZ (InvestigateTV) — Each year, there are dangerous encounters between Grand Canyon visitors and wildlife such as elk. So the park created a new program to reduce these interactions, with the introduction of their newest employee, Blue, the Catahoula dog.

Around 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon, and wildlife biologist Brady Dunne said people get too close to wildlife.

“Every time someone calls for an incident, I’m the one who responds,” said Dunne. “I graphed out that data, and just year after year has climbed exponentially.”

He said they track at least 12 guest and wildlife interactions that are classified as dangerous each year, but those are only the ones recorded.

Dunne said one of the reasons there are so many interactions is the number of elk and their adaptive behaviors.

“Right now, we have the most elk we’ve ever had, and the highest percentage of those elk are habituated,” he said.

He created a program using Blue, the 18-month-old Catahoula Leonberger dog, to teach the elk not to go into populated areas.

Blue is one of only two dogs in the country with this job right now.

“So I’m going to try out using a spotted wolf that we call blue,” Dunne said. “Over time, it’s called aversive conditioning. Over time, they say a wolf lives at the El Tovar, I’m not going to come drop my calf there.”

Blue chased elk away from the local school on Monday.

“So we move her across the road, and we push her into the woods, and she goes into her own where she belongs,” Dunne said.

Blue never touches the elk, and Dunne said the goal isn’t to chase the animals out of the park but to move them away from areas with the most people.

They collared nine elk, so they’ll collect data on how efficient the program is.

Dunne is hopeful the project will make a positive impact, protecting elk and visitors.

“Really, what I like most about it is Blue is a symbol for people to see, to think to themselves, ‘should I approach this elk? Oh wait a second, maybe I’ll be true to Blue and I won’t pursue,’” he said.

It’s important to remember that wildlife can be aggressive when we do not respect their space. Visitors should stay at least 25 yards away from large animals like bison and elk.