11 Aug Keeping the dogs at bay

The African wild dog is one of South Africa’s most enigmatic carnivores luring visitors from far and wide to sneak a peek of the iconic patchy black, white and tan coats from which their “painted wolf” title is derived. Sadly, they are also South Africa’s most endangered carnivore with shrinking rangelands, high disease susceptibility and persecution by farmers (for the threat they pose to livestock) being the prime reasons for the global population decline of the species. Recently, road accidents and incidental snaring have also become a major contribution to the reductions in numbers, as wild dogs and humans continue to compete for space.

Conservationists estimate the population at around 5,500 free-ranging wild dogs, with numbers currently remaining stable. In South Africa there are fewer than 450 individuals, but these numbers are increasing due to conservation efforts to expand their range.

EWT and CEO Shaun McCartney stand under the large Marula that marks the holding facility location (©EWT)

One of the largest contributors to wild dog conservation is the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT). The African Wild Dog is in fact the flagship species of the EWT’s Carnivore Conservation Programme (EWTCCP). Through this programme the EWT has worked tirelessly monitoring populations in the Kruger National Park and establishing a metapopulation to manage and reintroduce populations in medium-sized reserves throughout South Africa. As I write this, several projects are working hard to interlace isolated habitat fragments in order to expand the habitat of the dogs by creating and protecting areas of connectivity between them. On top of this, reducing the illegal bushmeat trade is key in these environments to lower the numbers of deaths from wire snares and as such community engagement and education has become imperative. In all these endeavours EWT and other agencies working to protect wild dogs have been successful, with South Africa seeing a rise in the population over the last two decades.

The proposed layout for the facility (©EWT)

These successes in wild dog management have opened the door for other opportunities to restore populations in areas of southern Africa where wild dogs have been extirpated such as in neighbouring Mozambique. However, relocating the dogs to new homes is quite a tricky process. Because wild dogs live in packs there are a number of animals that need to be moved and this requires great coordination. Before the dogs can be transported (usually flown) over to their introduction sites they need to be held in a temporary holding facility to give the conservation team time to round up all the members of the pack, allow for pack formation and bonding, fit collars, vaccinate the dogs, create ID kits, make sure all the permits are in order and do a final weather check before heading to their new homes.

An adult dog susses out some movement in the bush (©Michelle Thompson).

The Waterberg has a strong connection to wild dog as it is home to the largest free-roaming population in the country. Here 30-40 dogs move freely, but not without persecution, through the untamed wilderness. To help in conserving this enigmatic species Welgevonden has teamed up with the EWT to build a facility to house wild dogs from all over the country before they are relocated to new homes. EWT is currently constructing the state-of-the-art holding facility on Welgevonden’s recently incorporated Uitval property and soon our patchy canid friends will be one step closer to new lives in lands where they will have space to roam and the risk of persecution is lower.

If you’d like to contribute to this fantastic initiative, please visit EWT’s website here or contact Tammy Baker on TammyB@ewt.org.za.