ARAS (All Rescues Are Special) Medal Winner, in the Australian Dog of the Year Awards, Bear featured on 7NEWS Sunshine Coast
Story Aired – 5 February 2025
Story Transcript:
A horrendous disaster, the Black Summer bushfires of 2019 decimated much of Australia’s wildlife. Emergency services did what they could to help, and so too did one mighty rescue dog. Bear the border collie is trained to sniff out koalas in times of need.
Its job was to find koala that had survived the fire, so we could rescue those koala and bring them to the hospital. Bear was deployed for six months. During that time, he even got a special shout out from Tom Hanks for his good work.
He’s won awards from Italy and Vietnam and the UK, but this time it’s an Australian award. Bear has now been named the Australian All Rescues Special Dog of the Year. It’s an award that is about rescue dogs, and Bear is a rescue dog.
His handlers say Bear has now saved more than 100 koalas. And of course, for being a good boy, he’ll now be rewarded with extra playtime. We really like for dogs to have that work-life balance, even though for them work is the best time.
Rebecca Jensen, Seven News.