Famed detection dog ‘Bear’ retires after 10 years of saving our koalas

The koala detection dog* who became famous because of his work during Australia’s catastrophic Black Summer* bushfires has hung up his boots for the final time.

Eleven-year-old Bear was recruited and trained 10 years ago to sniff out koalas and other wildlife in need of rescue, working with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW*) and University of the Sunshine Coast’s (UniSC) Detection Dogs for Conservation.

“Bear has been a huge part of our lives, and a tireless ambassador* for koalas for a decade, and I can’t believe we won’t walk the bush in search of koalas together anymore,” UniSC conservation ecologist* Associate Professor Romane Cristescu, one of Bear’s former handlers said.

“He melted hearts all around the world, and opened many doors so we could have critical and difficult conversations about climate change and its impacts on the threatened koalas, as well as so many other species.”

Bear was one of the first dogs in Australia to be trained on the scent of the fur of live koalas. He drops to the ground at the base of a tree when he finds a koala, and his reward is his favourite thing in life – a ball.

During the Australian bushfires of 2019-20, thousands of koalas were impacted. Bear’s searches of scorched land led to the discovery of more than 100 koalas, many in need of veterinary care. His heroic efforts earned the admiration of everyone – even Hollywood actors like Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio.

One notable rescue was when Bear used his super sense of smell to find a mother koala named Jessie and her joey, Amelia, in the scorched land at Two Thumbs Wildlife Trust Sanctuary in NSW after the Black Summer bushfires. During a veterinary check-up, the team discovered Jessie was pregnant. They stayed in care for six months until it was time for Amelia, Jessie and her new joey, Jazz, to be released back into the wild.

“The moment Bear stepped onto that fireground*, we had no idea what he’d be capable of – until he exceeded every expectation. That’s when we realised we weren’t just working with a dog, but a true hero,” IFAW head of programs, Josey Sharrad, said.

Since then, Bear has continued to support his four-legged teammates on rescue missions and in post-disaster recovery surveys to understand the long-term impacts of disasters, especially fires, on koala populations.

Before he was a conservation hero, he was struggling to find a forever home because of his boundless energy and need for constant play.

“The worst pets often make the best detection dogs, and Bear is a classic example of this,” Ms Sharrad said. “His energetic nature and ball obsession made him the perfect candidate. He literally went from chewing the walls of a Gold Coast apartment to roaming through the Aussie bush on a mission to save our most iconic* species.”

“He found his life’s true purpose and never stopped surprising us with his ‘koality* skills’. His legacy will continue through the next generation of detection dogs who will follow in his famous pawprints.”

Bear will retire with several awards under his collar – including IFAW’s prestigious Animal of the Year award and the Puppy Tales Photos Australian Dog of the Year award. He has even had a “dogumentary” made about him called Bear: Koala Hero, as well as a book called Bear to the Rescue.

Bear, an Australian koolie, will spend his retirement with his human and one of his former handlers on the Sunshine Coast, getting belly rubs and playing his favourite game — fetch.

“By his personality, which is both joyful and goofy, he was able to bring light to the most dire moments of many people’s lives. We are incredibly grateful and lucky to have had Bear as a companion in our lives and to fight for koala conservation,” Dr Cristescu said.

Bear’s four-and-two-legged teammates will continue their important work conducting surveys for research into wildlife and habitat protection.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF BEAR FINDING A KOALA 

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GLOSSARY

• detection dog: a specially trained dog that uses its keen sense of smell to sniff out endangered wildlife
• Black Summer: possibly the worst, most widespread bushfire season in Australian history, when bushfires affected about 80 per cent of Australians and raged from July 2019 to May 2020, causing 33 deaths, the destruction of more than 3000 homes and the burning of more than 17 million hectares of land
• IFAW: a global not-for-profit organisation that works to rescue, rehabilitate and release animals while also restoring and protecting their natural habitats in more than 40 countries around the world
• ambassador: a representative or promoter of a particular cause
• conservation ecologist: a scientist who studies changes in the environment to manage threats and protect natural habitats
• fireground: where firefighters are working to control and extinguish a fire
• iconic: symbolic of a country or culture
• koality: a play on words combining koala and loyalty

EXTRA READING
Paralympic pets set gold standard
Hell on earth as weather giants collide
Bushfires threaten 49 Australian species

QUICK QUIZ
1. How many years has Bear been working as a koala detection dog?
2. How does he find koalas?
3. What does he do when he finds one?
4. What is his reward for finding a koala?
5. What breed of dog is Bear?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Bear’s retirement speech
Imagine you have been asked to deliver a speech at Bear’s retirement party. Write what you would say about him. You could talk about how he came to be a koala detection dog, his best qualities and greatest achievements and your best wishes for his retirement. You may also acknowledge the humans who have been with Bear on his journey.

Practice delivering your speech aloud to an audience.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English

2. Extension
Create a short comic strip that would show an audience about Bear’s work. Think about what to show in each scene, how to show action and movement and include speech bubbles and captions.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Visual Arts

VCOP ACTIVITY
Punctuation thief
Pick a paragraph from the article, or about three sentences together if that’s easier, and rewrite it without the punctuation. At the bottom of the page write a list of all the punctuation you stole and in the order you stole it. For example; C , . C .

Then swap your book with another person and see if they can work out where the punctuation needs to be restored.

Make it easier: Underline where you stole the punctuation from but don’t put the list at the bottom in order.

Make it harder:

• Don’t put the punctuation in order at the bottom.
• Underline where you took the punctuation from, but don’t tell them what pieces you took.
• Just tell them how many pieces you took, but not what they are.
• Don’t give them any clues!