Gracie is n’t like the other Mungo Park rangers atGlacier National Parkin Montana : She ’s not afraid to consort after bighorn sheep and mountain goats so as to keep them at a secure distance from visitors . And while she does n’t earn a remuneration , she ’s content to work for stomach hitch .
That ’s because Gracie is a trained perimeter collie who became the first employee - owned dog to become a “ bark ranger ” at aU.S. home commons . She was consent into Glacier ’s wildlife shepherding program in July 2016 and has been protecting both humans and wildlife alike ever since .
One of Gracie ’s chief duties is to keep sheep and goats aside from domain with eminent foot traffic , like the Logan Pass parking lot . Through habituation , many of the park ’s native specie have begun to sense comfortable around human being , and sometimes even approach them . This is problematic for a couple of ground .
“ When intimately approached or provide with human intellectual nourishment , bighorn sheep and mountain goats can become fast-growing ; each has the ability to plain , bite , gore , or trample when feeling threatened , ” the National Park Service ( NPS ) write on itswebsite . “ This can induce trauma — or in uncommon cases , death — to people and can cause the animal to be lethally absent from the universe . ”
In the winter , Gracie also helps shepherd deer out of highly populated areas in an effort to keep predators — namely mountain lions — away from people . Gracie completed a 10 - calendar week training computer programme in Florence , Montana , where she discover how to control her guidance and speed . She also knows when to retreat at the command of her owner , Mark Biel , who figure out as the park ’s natural resources program manager .
Gracie ’s hard work has not perish unnoticed either . Her Instagram account statement , which chronicles the life of a # WorkingDog , has more than 17,000 followers . Check out some of the photograph and videos below to see this very adept girl in action .
