Already capturing the hearts of many, Bear’s heroic life is a far cry from how he started - a puppy in a rescue shelter diagnosed with OCD. Since being rescued by the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Detection Dogs for Conservation, Bear has spent his life training to find endangered animals by scent. A dog’s scent is between thought to be upwards of 100,000 times stronger than a human’s, with the ability to be trained to smell an odour of flora and fauna on land, and even under the sea. However, Bear is the only one in his team who has the ability to find koalas by scent from vast distances. Bear is part of the USC’s Detection Dogs for Conservation which is a not-for-profit organisation that rescues dogs from animal shelters, and trains them to help find and save endangered flora and fauna. Since the fires started in November 2019, more than 11 million hectares of Australian land has burned. With hundreds of lost communities, homes and lives, it’s estimated 500 billion animals perished in the fires, with a third of native koalas lost in New South Wales. Bear is a story of hope and positivity. It’s a story focusing on the good things that can come through a bad situation. It highlights our connection with animals - not just our native wildlife, but our four-legged buddies and some of our other domestic pets that are being used to help entire species.