After 10 years of helping rescue teams track down at-risk koalas in the bush, Bear — one of Australia's most recognizable conservation dogs — is officially retiring from fieldwork.
The 11-year-old Australian Koolie is credited with helping save more than 100 koalas during Australia's catastrophic "Black Summer" fires of 2019-2020, but now he'll be trading search-and-rescue missions for a routine of fetch and belly rubs.
Bear was part of an early wave of dogs in Australia trained to identify koala scent, giving wildlife teams a way to find animals hidden in thick bushland that might otherwise have been missed.
His retirement was announced this week after an entire decade of fieldwork and public advocacy.
During the 2019-2020 bushfire crisis on Australia's eastern seaboard, Bear became a key part of rescue efforts, as Inquirer.net reported. The fires burned millions of hectares, destroyed thousands of homes, and shrouded cities in dangerous smoke.
When Bear first took on the role, the International Fund for Animal Welfare said the use of koala-detection dogs was a completely new idea that hadn't been put into action before.
"No one knew if it could be done," Josey Sharrad, head of programs at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, wrote in a statement.
Bear's service also brought him widespread recognition, including an Animal of the Year honor and the Puppy Tales Photos Australian Dog of the Year title. He was also featured in the book "Bear to the Rescue," and a documentary, "Bear: Koala Hero" — which was lovingly called a "dogumentary."
His work came as climate-fueled disasters put already vulnerable species at greater risk and demonstrated how detection dogs can aid rescue efforts when time is short.
Koalas have faced repeated threats from habitat destruction, extreme heat, drought, and wildfires. When fires tear through forests, rescue teams often struggle to find injured or displaced animals quickly enough. A trained detection dog can help close that gap, turning minutes into lifesaving interventions.
Biodiversity loss and worsening natural disasters also have consequences for people. Healthy ecosystems help support cleaner air, more stable landscapes, and stronger communities, while increasingly severe fire seasons can devastate homes, public health, and local economies.
By the end of his career, Bear had helped demonstrate that wildlife detection dogs can be useful in both rescue and research, especially after disasters when endangered animals are hard to spot.
Sharrad said Bear's early years gave little indication that he would become a conservation icon.
"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," she said.
Bear will begin a quieter life on the Sunshine Coast, having some well-deserved relaxation and playtime with one of his former handlers.
If you want to get more involved in your own community, check out this guide page on taking local action.
Former handler Romane Cristescu said Bear had been a "tireless ambassador for koalas for a decade" and that "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."
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