Welcome

Welcome to Tucker’s KBD Fund, a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to support working wildlife service dogs. Our primary mission is to support the Karelian Bear Dogs that serve as wildlife service dogs within the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. We provide financial support as well as advocate for these dogs to continue their valuable work for bear conservation, bear safety programs and work with other carnivores such as cougars. Here you will find info on KBDs and what services they provide to public as well as opportunities to support these dogs and the valuable work they do for people and wildlife.

WASHINGTON KBD's On the Radio!!!    

Listen to the podcast.

Steve Scher at KUOW aired a recording, this morning, from his time Monday with Rich Beausoleil and two Karelian bear dogs, Cash and Mishka.  You can download and hear it at http://www.kuow.org/rss.php?program=weekday. It is the Adventures In Sound program. The KBD piece starts at 5 min. 20 sec. into the show and runs for about 2½ minutes.

Matt, of the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project wrote: Having never seen or (literally) heard of this non-lethal wildlife control technique before, I can say that the sounds of it were impactful!  And Steve and the other announcer’s commentary before and after the recording put it all in context.  Rich, Bruce Richards, and dogs Mishka and Cash were mentioned by name and the washingtonbeardogs.org website (the one you are on now) was given for people to make a donation to this WDFW program.  Steve even plugged the upcoming Weekday show on carnivores (with Chris Morgan, Rich Beausoleil, and a wolf expert) scheduled for Mon., April 26^th at 9 am.

Please make a donation now to help us keep these dogs working.

 To learn more about the history of Washington KBD’s click here.

 Remember, these dogs need your support to keep working for wildlife and people. 

AWARD  The Tucker's KBD Fund/Martha Jordan received the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's Rocky Spencer Memorial Award in May. The award is given for outstanding support of wildlife programs that make a difference for wildlife and people in Washington State. We are very honored to be this year's recipient along with the dogs, their handlers and the Wind River Bear Institute.  

  Tucker’s KBD Fund came about from an amazing border collie named Tucker.His work with wildlife in Alaska and Washington helped many species of birds and above all helped wildlife biologists work with animals more humanely and reduce costs.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has been leading the way in bear management through the use of Karelian bear dogs, a Northern European breed renowned for courage in the face of disgruntled bruins. Currently two dogs, Mishka and Cash, are on duty with a wildlife biologist and a wildlife officer. Using techniques pioneered by Montana wildlife biologist Carrie Hunt, these dogs are learning to teach problem bears when and where they're not welcome.

In terms of time and animals, it's a tremendous savings for everyone. The pilot project with Wildlife Enforcement in 2008 along with the success of biologist Rich Beausoleil the past three years has proven how valuable these dogs are for bears and people.  The goal of the program is to reduce what biologists call "human-caused mortality"—bears getting killed by people. "It's human-caused mortality that's the main factor influencing whether or not bears can persist long-term in an area," said Beausoleil. "The number one reason why bears die is management removal of nuisance bears," explained Hunt.

Typically, nuisance bears are shot by wildlife officers after they lose their natural fear of humans and begin lurking near human settlements in search of an easy meal. Hunt began examining ways of using Karelian bear dogs to tackle the problem of bear-human interaction some 12 years ago because she "got tired of watching bears die." She put together the Wind River Bear Institute in 1996 to further her ideas on "bear shepherding." It was from WRBI that Washington DFW has obtained their dogs. Hunt uses aversive conditioning techniques to show bears that there really is no such thing as a free lunch. By associating people with discomfort and noise, bears are educated to avoid human contact, eliminating the need for relocation or extermination. The Karelian bear dogs are an essential part of this process, said Hunt.

Black-and-white and medium-size, Karelians are members of the spitz family, similar to Russian laikas. The breed originated in Finland, where it is usually used to hunt bear, elk, and other, often large, animals.

Contact snail mail address: PMB 272, 914- 164th Street SE, Mill Creek, WA 98012