Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 09 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Apologies for the lengthy break in posts: I have been away for a few weeks in the UK, and failed to think of anything remotely interesting to report from there!  The field-work side of the wild dog project has been on standby for a while, because both the scouts were on leave as well, and the rains have made field work very difficult. 

Anyhow, I am now back in the conservancy, as is Rueben – our head scout, and we are just starting to work out where all the dogs are now.  Due to the abundance of water all over the conservancy now, the dogs are moving vast distances and are proving hard to keep track of!  Rueben had a good sighting of the Bedford pack a couple of days ago, but only counted 22 dogs.  The pack used to be 29, so I’m suspecting that a small group has split off.  Indeed there have been a couple of reports of a pack of 6 dogs around, which may well be the offshoot of the Bedford pack.  I’ll follow up on that in the next few days and let you know.

Rueben and I went out yesterday and after several hours of driving round and climbing big hills, we picked up a signal for the Mapari Pack (that’s the pack we collared again in December after Sandy (the only collared individual) was killed by poachers…).  We had to go in on foot, and found them lying in thick shade in a dry riverbed.  The wind was in our favour, so we managed to get quite close to them before they noticed us.  We counted 15 dogs (in December there were 16), but may well have missed one as they all jumped up and moved off.

It was a long, hot morning, but not only did we get to see the dogs, we also saw a monitor lizard, 2 elephants and a black rhino.  I must say it’s nice to back in the bush again!

I’ll be going down to the south of the conservancy in the next week or so, and will visit Anne and Squeaker (the baby warthog), so I will send an update on him then.

Back soon with more news from the dogs and the warthog!

Rosemary