{"id":1715,"date":"2026-06-09T10:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1715"},"modified":"2026-06-09T10:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:03:10","slug":"grand-canyon-adds-new-dog-to-help-reduce-wildlife-interactions-with-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1715","title":{"rendered":"Grand Canyon adds new dog to help reduce wildlife interactions with visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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GRAND CANYON, AZ (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

Read more New Arizona law cracks down on soliciting prostitution<\/a><\/p>\n

Around 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon, and wildlife biologist Brady Dunne said people get too close to wildlife.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time someone calls for an incident, I\u2019m the one who responds,\u201d said Dunne. \u201cI graphed out that data, and just year after year has climbed exponentially.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Dunne said one of the reasons there are so many interactions is the number of elk and their adaptive behaviors.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we have the most elk we\u2019ve ever had, and the highest percentage of those elk are habituated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Blue is one of only two dogs in the country with this job right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m going to try out using a spotted wolf that we call blue,\u201d Dunne said. \u201cOver time, it\u2019s called aversive conditioning. Over time, they say a wolf lives at the El Tovar, I\u2019m not going to come drop my calf there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Coati tests positive for rabies at Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior<\/a><\/p>\n

Blue chased elk away from the local school on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we move her across the road, and we push her into the woods, and she goes into her own where she belongs,\u201d Dunne said.<\/p>\n

Blue never touches the elk, and Dunne said the goal isn\u2019t to chase the animals out of the park but to move them away from areas with the most people.<\/p>\n

They collared nine elk, so they\u2019ll collect data on how efficient the program is.<\/p>\n

Dunne is hopeful the project will make a positive impact, protecting elk and visitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, what I like most about it is Blue is a symbol for people to see, to think to themselves, \u2018should I approach this elk? Oh wait a second, maybe I\u2019ll be true to Blue and I won\u2019t pursue,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more New fire near Flagstaff burns 100 acres, threatens power lines and pipelines<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Grand Canyon created a new program to reduce animal interactions with the introduction of their newest employee, Blue, the Catahoula dog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nGrand Canyon adds new dog to help reduce wildlife interactions with visitors - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1715\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grand Canyon adds new dog to help reduce wildlife interactions with visitors - 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