Bruce Elfström, professional biologist, expedition training expert, and field logistics coordinator; it was in 2004 while filming an IMAX film in Mongolia when he first became aware of the environmental challenges the nomadic herders of Mongolia face on a daily basis. The interconnection of pastoral nomads, predator prey relationships, and how this all affects desertification fascinated him. Ever practical, Bruce began talking to herders and researching livestock protection dogs as a missing link in the complex conservation puzzle. He realized that this was a historical solution to a highly modern problem. Discovering several families still using the original Bankhar dogs in remote areas of Mongolia, Bruce founded Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project in 2011 to put this research into practice.