COCONINO COUNTY, Ariz. — Officials at Grand Canyon National Park are trying a more natural approach at containing the wildlife population encroaching on the park’s developed areas.
Blue, a trained Catahoula Leopard Hound, has been assigned to keep animals like elk and bighorn sheep away from the Grand Canyon’s busiest areas.
Blue is part of the park’s three-year Conservation K-9 Pilot Project, an initiative intended to address the animals that have become habituated around the park’s visitors.
Animals that have become too comfortable around humans can block park roadways and become aggressive during the calving or rutting season, park officials said.
Studies conducted a few years ago showed elk were using developed areas of the park as a core habitat and, in some cases, wildlife managers have had to lethally remove animals that had become too aggressive.
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Blue will be deployed to serve as a guard dog, barking at unwanted wildlife and encouraging them to return to more natural movement patterns.
The dog will always be leashed while working in the park and Blue is not trained to make physical contact with other animals. Blue will be focused on working in areas of Grand Canyon Village where conflicts with wildlife have historically occurred.
The project was inspired by a wildlife shepherding program at Glacier National Park.
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