Recently, a brave dog received an International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) for rescuing more than 100 koalas.
This is the little hero Bear, 6 years old, who is a key member of Australia's Sunshine Coast University's Detection Dog Protection Program.
Many people remember the terrible forest fires that occurred in Australia in 2019-2020,
Fires engulfed forests and destroyed the homes of countless animals.
And animals like koalas, which have lived in trees for a long time and often move slowly, many of them cannot escape in time, and they are burned and burned everywhere.
People want to save koalas, but if they rely on manpower to find areas and trees, the workload is too large and the efficiency is too low.
Injured koalas may not have survived that time, and it was too late for people to find them.
It's time for Bear to play!
After specific training, Bear can accurately identify and locate a live koala through the taste of koala feces and fur, just like a koala GPS.
It was the only dog in the world to receive this training.
During the forest fires, its team worked with IFAW and local wildlife conservation groups to search for and rescue surviving koalas.
After the trainer takes Bear to the search area, he will first dress him in a uniform and special small shoes to prevent stepping on the ground that has just been burned by the fire and scalding the meat pads on his feet.
Then I'll let go of The Bear and let it track the koala's scent on its own.
Once the koala's location is determined, Bear will lie down on his stomach and signal to the trainer.
Some of the koalas were still in the trees, far from the ground, but Bear was able to find them with an excellent sense of smell.
At this time, the staff will build a ladder or use a rope to climb up the tree to save the koala.
It saved a lot of koalas who were burned and burned, and then the forest fire burned almost, but Bear's work was not over.
It continues to be responsible for searching the forest for sick or injured koalas so that they can get timely treatment and save their lives.
These rescued koalas are taken to a conservation centre where they are carefully cared for by veterinarians.
Because of the timely discovery, many koalas have successfully recovered after being hospitalized for a period of time.
Staff also took DNA samples from 144 koalas for registration and research.
Happily, some of the koalas Bear found have fully recovered and been released back into nature.
In 2019-2020, Bear searched and rescued more than 100 koalas, and now it is still working.
For its significant contribution to the conservation of wild koalas, IFAW decided to recognize it and award it the Animal Action Award.
Bear, which has its own Instagram account, also posted the good news,
The staff gave it a special tennis ball, as well as many, many touches and pats as a reward, and trainer Romane Cristescu was proud of it.
Many fans also congratulated it in the comments, thinking that it deserved the award.
Congratulations, and thank you too.
Bear, your job is amazing!! You deserve a lot of balls!!
Be proud of all of you. Be safe.
Now, people call Bear "Hero Dog", and fans draw the story of its search and rescue koala.
But perhaps everyone can't imagine that it was once a little pitiful little who was abandoned by his family.
According to foreign media reports, Bear once had a shoveling officer,
It has a lively and active personality, has endless energy, is particularly obsessed with playing, and because it is too noisy, it does not get along well with other dogs.
The shoveler couldn't tolerate its character and eventually abandoned it.
Fortunately, Bear was admitted to the Sunshine Coast University Detection Dog Center.
Here it was well taken care of and met Ms. Romane Cristescu, a trainer and "one of the world's favorite human beings.".
Through a period of training, Bear's potential is developed,
And as a search and rescue dog, energy has become an important advantage,
It is gold that always shines, bear finds the right place for it, and begins to shine.
He loves the job very much,
Always active and serious in doing work,
At the end of the work, the tired Bear will lie on the trainer's lap or take a nap on the car.
The spirit of nourishment is to better go to the next search and rescue scene.
Although Bear has been successful many times, it is inevitable that this job has been done for a long time, and it is inevitable that there will be regrets.
Bear often tells rescue stories in the first person on Ins, with not only successes but also sad examples.
For example, it found a weak male Carla, malnutrition and may also have pneumonia,
After taking it back for treatment, the little guy did not survive and died the next day.
Another example is even more tragic.
"Every time I find a koala, the human trainer is always happy, but after finding two koalas today, she was very sad."
"One of the koalas is dying in the fire."
"The other was burned by its claws, but survived, but was later killed by a charred tree."
But even after experiencing setbacks and regrets, Bear and its trainers and the whole team did not get discouraged.
Still rushing to the scene again and again, even if there is a little hope, never give up.
Go all out at work, and Bear is no different from other dogs when you're not working.
Favorite to play ball,
Loves to roll around.
When quiet is a beautiful man,
But often handsome for no more than three seconds,
If you are not careful, you will reveal a cute (stupid) love (cute) side.
Happily, Bear is not alone now.
It already has several colleague dogs that have fought alongside, they are all trained search and rescue dogs,
In the future, they will jointly take on the responsibility of protecting koalas.
Brave dogs, not afraid of difficulties,
This is the story of Bear, a koala search and rescue dog.
Hopefully, Bear in the days to come,
Continue to be a happy dog with a good job and a free life...