[pyrnet] Gotta love those Pyrs

[LESRVG@aol.com]

I thought I would share this story with the group.  

=========================================================

Logan Herald Journal - Saturday

-----------------------------------------

Safe or stranded?


By John Wright
Determined dog won't abandon lost sheep

One Great Pyrenees guard dog in Logan Canyon is proving that he's a sheep's 
best friend.

Despite hunger and severe cold, the dog has stayed with a small flock that 
was left behind after grazing season and is now snowbound about 100 yards 
north of U.S. 89 near Beaver Mountain. Great Pyrenees are used by ranchers 
to protect their herds against attacks by coyotes and other wild animals.

"That dog's going to die protecting those sheep if somebody doesn't get up 
there," said Jim Stone, owner of Bear River Basin Outfitters and the 
Pickleville Country Store at Bear Lake.

Stone, who travels the canyon once or twice a day, began feeding the dog 
shortly after he first noticed it in October. Now, though, Stone says it's 
difficult to get food to the animal because it's too far from the road and 
the snow has become too deep. He fears it will freeze to death or starve, 
and he's trying to get someone to do something about it.

One local sheep rancher said the situation is not uncommon, and both dog 
and sheep will be fine, but Verl Hanchett of the Division of Wildlife 
Resources and Lt. Dave Bennett of the Cache County Sheriff's Office said 
they plan to take action.

"We're going to do something about it," said Bennett, adding that he would 
not rule out the possibility of filing animal-neglect charges against the 
dog's owner.

Bennett said it's not uncommon for stray sheep to turn up in the canyon 
during winter. Ranchers graze their flocks there in the summertime under 
contracts with the state and federal governments. Inevitably, when the 
ranchers pick up their sheep in the fall, a few are left behind.

But Bennett said dogs are another story. They pose risks to wildlife and 
humans, and could end up getting shot or run over by a car.

"It's kind of ridiculous," Bennett said. "You start leaving dogs up there 
and that causes problems."

Hanchett said it's a problem his agency sees every year. He said the 
animals' owner should be held responsible, and he urged The Herald Journal 
to contact the Humane Society.

"Let's do something," he said. "I'm willing to go up and do whatever it 
takes."

Bennett said Friday night that a deputy was trying to determine who owns 
the animals. Bennett said depending on the situation, he would consider 
dispatching the Search and Rescue Team.

But local sheep rancher Clark Willis, president of the Utah Woolgrowers 
Association, said that's unnecessary. Willis said there's still forage on 
the trees for the sheep, and he's been helping to feed the dog.

"The best thing for people to do is just leave the dog alone and let the 
owner come get him," Willis said. "People don't understand what's going 
on."

Willis said he grazes sheep in that area of the canyon but doesn't own the 
animals in question.

"They're on my summer range," he said. "They're not mine."

Willis said he knows the rancher who owns the animals, but declined to give 
a name. He said the owner has tried to retrieve the animals, and planned to 
try again on Thursday. The problem is that Pyrenees guard dogs are very 
skittish and often difficult to coax.

"They're very wild dogs," he said. "When they're little pups, you never 
touch them and you never do anything with them. Because of that, they're a 
little hard to handle."

Willis said the dog will not leave because its instincts are to protect the 
sheep.

"That's what those dogs are bred to do," he said. They're wonderful dogs."

Willis said it's unlikely the dog would harm a human being, but both Stone 
and Hanchett expressed concerns about approaching the creature.

"I don't want to go up there and fight with the dog," Hanchett said. "You 
get in deep snow and that dog's got you."

Bennett said the Search and Rescue Team would use snowmobiles to get to the 
animals and shoot the dog with a tranquilizer gun.

Stone said he didn't think much of it when he first saw the dog and sheep 
in October. However, when he was driving through the canyon one day after 
an early snowstorm, he saw the dog on the shoulder of the road. The dog 
chased his truck, but when Stone stopped and got out, the dog ran away. 
Worried about the animal, Stone dumped out a bag of bagels, and when he 
left the dog ran back and ate them.

"I figured, 'Oh heck, he's starving," Stone said.

Since then, Stone said he's been leaving food by the side of the road once 
or twice a day, and the dog comes down to retrieve it after he leaves, but 
won't get within 60 or 70 yards of him.

Stone said he's even left hay for the sheep next to the dog's food.

"I figured they were about starving up there themselves," he said.

Stone said the dog is so smart that it came down to the road and hauled the 
hay back up to the sheep.

"It was the damnedest thing I've ever seen," he said.

In the last 10 days, though, Stone says the animals have become stranded, 
and he can't get any closer to the animals because the snow is chest deep.

He said the dog hadn't eaten in five or six days until Friday morning, when 
he rolled up four steaks like softballs and threw them toward the animal.

"I just hope he came down and got that meat," Stone said.

Later in the day, he said he planned to attempt the toss with some corn 
dogs.

"I think I can just rifle those right up into there," he said.

Stone said it bothers him that someone would allow the animals to suffer 
and possibly die. He said he thinks some "old-school" ranchers have the 
attitude that a dog and a few sheep aren't worth the effort.

"It just really gets me in the heart that somebody would leave that dog 
there like that," he said. "It's just kind of a sad deal."
=========================================================
Sincerely,


Keith, Soo, Dusty, and Romy