Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 28 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Just a quick post to say thank you to both Pirjo and Deborah S for their donations this month.  Your support means a lot to us, and the money goes a long way here.  I will be putting it towards buying the drugs we need to immobilise and treat snared and injured wildlife.

Many thanks,

Rosemary

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 27 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

We managed to find two of the collared packs yesterday and between the two scouts and I, we got great sightings of both.  I’m pleased to report that the Mapari pack is still 14 individuals, although one of the adult males has a snare around his neck. 

An adult male from the Mapari pack carrying a snare: note the ball of fur below his neck where the snare is.

The Maera pack is missing one adult.  I had thought this was the case for about 3 weeks, but wasn’t 100% sure.  Also, it seems that the pup that had the bad snare injury has actually still got the snare round his neck.  I saw him very well yesterday, and while he seemed to be doing okay, he was looking a bit tatty and the snare wound was once again obvious. 

When I was in Harare recently I was able to collect my license to enable me to possess and administer the drugs I need to do something about this, so I’ll be trying to remove both these snares over the next few days.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  It’s wonderful how resilient these dogs are and I just hope we are able to help them.

It just seems to be an uphill battle with these snares.  I strongly suspect the adult that has gone from the Maera pack will have been killed by a snare, and after we found that carcass in a snare a couple of weeks ago, I’m sure several other members of that pack are also carrying snares. 

One of the snares that killed a wild dog

Fortunately both the Mapari pack and Maera pack are collared, so we can find the packs in order to help them.  The uncollared packs are not so easy as they are rarely seen.  (Incidentally - I’m often asked about why we collar the dogs – this is a good example of one of the benefits that come from collaring).

I’ll let you know how we have got on in a few days, although I suspect it may take a while….

Rosemary

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 26 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi guys,

Sorry to have disappeared off the radar for a while.  As seems to be the case fairly frequently here at the moment, internet has been down, so I havent been able to post a new blog.  Apologies. 

I’ve been in Harare for a few days and also went up to Hwange National Park to visit the wild dog project up there.  They are actually called ‘Painted Dog Conservation’ and do a fantastic job with environmental education and community awareness.  They are a much larger scale project than ours, but we can certainly learn a lot from them as we work on expanding the education component of our project.  Have a look at their website - it’s very impressive!

The dogs here are doing okay, although it seems that a few are missing.  I’m hoping it’s just that we didnt see them in the bushes, but certainly the last few times the packs have been seen, they seem to be one or two short…  We will keep trying to get a clear sighting so we can be sure which individuals are there, but it’s tricky with the bush as thick as it is.

I’m off into the field now, but I’ll be back with more news soon.

Cheers,

Rosemary 

One response so far

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

Hi guys,

The last couple of days have been rather sad ones for the wild dog project.  On 6th March we were called down to a ranch in the centre of the conservancy where the scouts had found a wild dog carcass caught in a snare.  Unfortunately, the carcass was too decomposed to identify but it appeared to be a subadult, and we suspect it was a member of the Bedford pack; probably one of last years pups. 

We took samples for genetic analysis (which will tell us for sure which pack it was from), and the skull for measurements to estimate the age.  We then went and found the Bedford pack who were not all that far from the area, but they were in very thick bush and we were unable to count how many individuals there were in total.  We could however rule out several indivduals by getting a positive ID on them - it was such a relief to see each one alive and well!  Rueben, one our scouts, is currently down in the area looking for the pack.

Then yesterday we got a report from further south about another dead dog… At first I was hoping it was just crossed wires and they were reporting the same carcass but it soon became clear that this was not the case; in fact we were getting mixed radio messages ranging from one dead dog to one dying dog to five dogs caught etc.  We rushed straight down to the area to pick up the scouts who had reported the incident and then went with them to the scene.  We found one very fresh dead dog caught in a snare, and evidence from broken snares in the same area that at least several others had been caught and managed to break free, but will now be carrying snares and may well die later from their wounds.

Sadly, we identified this dog as one of last year’s male pups from the Nyarushanga pack.  He was a fit, healthy young male, with stunning coat patterns and its such a shame!

Unfortunately the Nyarushanga Pack is not collared, so it will be extremely difficult to find the pack in order to assess the other injuries and try to remove some of the snares, but I do have Rueben, our best scout down in that area following the tracks and trying to find the pack.  I’m on standby to rush down there again if he finds them, but its frustrating feeling so helpless…

Rueben with the dead dog and the scouts who found and reported the incident.

This particular snare line was found close to some of the resettled farmers, and is evidence of the ongoing battle with snaring.  Just from that one tiny area, we removed about 10 snares and to get back to the car, we walked through fields of crops. Unfortunately, this is a prime example of the result of the land invasions which resultsed in subsitence settlements within wildlife areas…

I’ll be back soon with more thoughts on this,

Rosemary

3 responses so far

Category: Wild Dogs | Date: Mar 05 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

I found the Mapari pack yesterday, for once in a very open area, so managed to get some great views of them.  I spent a long time with them, both in the morning and in the evening just before they went hunting.  A couple of the adults were getting very frisky and I wonder if this will be the next alpha pair (the previous alpha female was killed in a snare). Such a privilege to watch this kind of behaviour…

Then in the evening, the pups were the playful ones - two of them spent about 5 minutes holding onto each others tails and going round and round in circles - it was so funny I actually cried laughing!

The Mapari pack still has all six adults but only 8 pups now: unfortunately 2 are missing - Dudu and Trinity.  Pups of that age shouldn’t leave the pack for any reason, so unfortunately I suspect they have been killed, but you never know and if I’ve learnt anything by working with wild dogs it’s that you can never predict anything!  I’ll let you know if we see either of them again, but in the meantime, we have the 6 adults and Loopy, Biscuit, Milo, Roxy, Macbeth, Simba, Twinspot and Mishmash.

Back soon,

Rosemary

Tags: African Wild Dogs, conservation, hunting, playing, zimbabwe

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 03 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Just a quick post to let you know that we now have a new pack of wild dogs in the conservancy!  I don’t know where they came from, but the pack consists of 4 adults and 4 fairly small pups, so they must have denned fairly late last year.  I haven’t actually seen them personally yet (despite following up on potential sightings and spending hours waiting for them at water points or endlessly driving round the areas they have been hunting in!), but the photos from my scouts and one other person show that they are all individuals I have not seen before.

The other good news is that we are seeing another of our un-collared packs fairly regularly at the moment as well (the Star Pack), so are able to keep a track of them (which is usually extremely difficult without a collar).  They have decreased from 8 (4 adults and 4 pups) to 6 (3 adults and 3 pups) since they left the den in October last year, but that’s not too bad.

The Bedford pack is still 30 dogs: 19 of their 20 pups from last year are still alive which is incredibly good, and all of the adults bar one are still going strong too.  The Mapari pack seems to have lost a couple of adults, but I’m not sure if they have been killed or simply left the pack.  That pack has had lots of movements of individuals so it may be that they have just split off.  We will of course keep an eye out for the missing two and let you know if they are sighted again.

The Mavericks pack in the south is doing well with their new Alpha female Mina.  I’m really keeping all fingers and toes crossed that they breed this year – March is the time for mating, so we should see signs of pregnancy in a month or so, if they successfully mate.

Back soon,

Rosemary

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