Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 24 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Just a quick post today to let you know this blog will be quiet for a while - I’m off into the field to do a spoor survey in Gonarezhou National Park.  If you read my previous post about the park, you’ll know that it’s really a wild place.  We’ll be driving transects morning and evening when the sun is at an angle (best to see the spoor) and camping out wherever we end up. 

The purpose is to get some idea of the number and distribution of large carnivores in the park, specifically of course the wild dogs, but also lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, civet cats, serval etc.  Given the lack of current knowledge about the park, this will provide an excellent baseline for looking at changes in carnivore numbers in the park, and we’ll be following up on any wild dog spoor seen to see if we can see any of the dogs and get more of an idea about how many there are in the park.

I’ll send an update and let you know how we got on as soon we finish and get back to “civilisation”!!

Rosemary

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Category: Denning, Wild Dogs | Date: May 22 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi guys,

Some very exciting news… We’ve just located our first den of the season!!!  It’s for the Maera pack, and they’ve chosen a very inaccessible site right in the east of the conservancy!  I dont want to disturb them yet by clearing a vehicle access route, as the den is still very new.  So I’m afraid I can’t report much more than that at the moment, although as soon as we do get a route cleared and some observations going, I’ll get back to you.  I imagine it wont be long before the Bedford pack start denning too, although the other packs probably wont for a while longer.

Rosemary

Tags: dens, wild dog den sites, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe

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Category: Rhino, poaching, zimbabwe | Date: May 15 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

I’m deviating slightly here from the wild dog theme to publicise an art exhibition being held for an extremely worthwhile cause.  A friend of mine in the Save Valley Conservancy, Lin Barrie, is an incredible artist as well as a dedicated conservationist and is holding an exhibition in South Africa next week in aid of rhino conservation.  Entitled “My tears they came down”, this is a moving exhibition focussing on the plight of the rhino - both black and white - in Southern Africa today.  Lin’s paintings were prompted by the death of a young rhino cow in the conservancy named Ice, killed with an AK47 in November 2008, a year after her mother met the same fate. 

The Save Valley Conservancy was established in 1990 as a rhino intensive protective zone (IPZ).  Twenty black rhino were reintroduced from the Zambezi Valley, and the number had increased to 140 individuals by 2005, illustrating the success of the conservation intitiative.  Tragically, over the past three years, 33 of these magnificent and valuable animals have been poached for their horn, which is used in the Far East for traditional medicine.  In neighbouring South Africa, 2008 saw a minimum of 76 rhino deaths, 37 of which were in the Kruger National Park.  This is now a desperate situation that needs immediate focus and attention.

With the assistance of the European Commission (EC) a fund has been set up (under the auspices of the Lowveld Rhino Trust) to establish an anti-poaching unit and to improve the intelligence base which will increase the success in persecuting rhino poachers.  However, this fund is established with the requirement that the conservancy match the funds…  Lin’s exhibition, and other fundraising attempts are aiming to get support for this critical anti-poaching unit. 

Lin is also passionate about the conservation of wild dogs, and their persecution by snaring is also a focus of many of her painitings.  Needless to say any anti-poaching efforts, even if co-ordinated by the Lowveld Rhino Trust, will help reduce the threat to these incredible animals as well.

I know that most of you are in the States, but if anyone is in South Africa or has friends or colleagues there who might be interested in going to the exhibition, it’s on from 21st to 24th May at the White River Gallery, in White River, South Africa.  There are of course also ways of donating to the Lowveld Rhino Trust without attending the exhibition and I have all the details if anyone thinks they may be able to help.  Have a look at this Times article for more information.  Any donations made through this blog can go directly to this cause as well, just leave a comment in the comments section.

Thanks,

Rosemary

Tags: rhino poaching, rhinos, zimbabwe

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Category: Random, Wild Dogs | Date: May 11 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Mmmm.  It appears that the 4 wheel drive on my vehicle is no longer working.  I was out the other day looking for the Mapari pack who were unhelpfully about as far away from anywhere as they could be.  The road to get near to them was pretty rough, but we finally came unstuck trying to cross a small sandy river.  In fact it was the kind of thing you barely think twice about crossing with four wheel drive, but it was only when it was too late that I realised that the 4 wheel drive didnt work.  Oops.  So we got ourselves well and truly stuck and despite best efforts couldnt get ourselves out.

However, it wasnt all bad.  We were at least reasonably close to the dogs, so I decided to abandon the vehicle for the time being and walk off to find the dogs.  Which we did.  Unfortunately the wind was blowing in every direction so they smelt us and ran away before we could get a proper look, but nonethless, at least we found them.

So then we went back to the vehicle which sadly had not become miraculously un-stuck whilst we were looking for the dogs, and after another hour or so of fruitless jacking up and digging we decided we’d better call for help.

Next problem: we were out of radio reception… Fortunately, we had Misheck with us who had been tracking the dogs separately on his motorbike, only meeting up with us when he got the signal.  So he trekked off back to where we had left the motorbike and found a big hill from which he could radio for help.  Meanwhile, we carried on jacking up the car and putting logs under the wheels etc, but all to no avail.  Fortunately we were in a beautiful, scenic area of the ranch, so the waiting for help wasnt too terrible!

Eventually we were pulled out by the kind owners of Chishakwe ranch, and got home just around sunset for a much needed shower!  Needless to say the car is now in the garage!

Rosemary

Tags: four wheel drive, stuck in the sand, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe

One response so far

Category: Random, Uncategorized, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe | Date: May 05 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

I just came back from a trip to Gonarezhou National Park; one of Zimbabwe’s biggest national parks and certainly the most wild and remote area in the country.  The purpose of the trip was to do a recce for a forthcoming spoor survey we intend to carry out to investigate the status of wild dogs (and other carnivores) in the park. 

 Our bush camp

I was with a lowveld local – Clive Stockil – who probably knows the park better than anyone else, and we really did some proper exploring!  Some of the tracks we used had only been mapped again last year after 30 years without being used.  And here I use the word ‘tracks’ in the loosest possible sense – I certainly couldn’t see any evidence of a route through the bush, but fortunately Clive seemed to know where we he was going and we ended up emerging unscathed at the other end of the park!

We also managed to cross the Runde river – one of the biggest obstacles to working in the park – and were the first vehicles across this season.

We were rewarded at the other side by views of the famous Chilojo cliffs – truly spectacular.

We were very excited to pick up on a good number of wild dog tracks in the park, as well as tracks and other evidence of lions, hyenas and many of the smaller carnivores.  It will be very interesting to see what we find when we start working there properly later this month.

Back soon,

Rosemary

Tags: Gonarezhou National Park, spoor, Wild Dogs, Wilderness, zimbabwe

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 05 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Many, many thanks to all those of you who have donated to our appeal to help save Zimbabwe’s wildlife.  It’s always good to know that there are people who read this blog and care enough to donate money to help us, even in what is such a difficult financial time for most people.  I hope to have some good news to post for you soon.

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Category: Other wildlife, Uncategorized, Wild Dogs, poaching, zimbabwe | Date: May 01 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Zimbabwe’s wildlife needs some help…  Those of you who are regular readers of this blog will know that poaching - especially snaring - in the remainder of Zimbabwe’s wildlife areas is posing a severe threat to the viability of our wildlife populations.  I recently got back to the Savé Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe’s south-east lowveld from a couple of weeks away in South Africa.  Informally chatting to people back in the conservancy, the scale of the poaching problem facing our wildlife struck me forcibly once again:

“… unfortunately we lost a giraffe to a snare last week”

“… if you see those tracks of the elephant calf dragging the snare, let us know”

“… yesterday we saw a badly injured wildebeest dragging a snare, with a log attached to it; I wish there was something we could do”

“…I found a zebra with a snare round its neck, and told the manager who came to shoot it” (report from one of my scouts)

The desperate situation in the country is one cause of this enormous upsurge of wildlife poaching.  However, whilst some of this is genuinely ‘subsistence hunting’ to feed families, many people have taken advantage of the chaos and lack of law enforcement to turn to commercial poaching.  The scale of this is extortionate and un-sustainable. 

A recent article published in the Times  highlights the problem for the rhino population.  This article is well worth reading. 

The aftermath of rhino poaching

In this blog, I have frequently highlighted the problem for the wild dogs. 

But it is not just these key species which are suffering.  Snaring (the main form of poaching used in this area) is an indiscriminate, cruel and wasteful method of killing.  In my post of 2^nd April, I gave some facts and figures about this, and just want to reiterate the main ones:

In a seven year period, conservancy scouts have removed over 75,000 snares and found over 6,000 animals dead (these included rhinos, leopards, wild dogs, sable, nyala, cheetah etc).  And the wastage, as mentioned, is horrific. Of the 1,421 animals killed in snares during August 2005-November 2008, 60% were found rotten or scavenged, and only 14% were extracted by illegal hunters. 

This  magnificent leopard was caught in a snare in Feburary this year

However, it is by no means all doom and gloom and the good news is that there are a lot of dedicated people trying to help.  Progress is being made at all levels.  Here are some examples of things that are being done:

- The establishment of a project with EU funding to provide a legal supply of bushmeat to the surrounding communities to alleviate some of the poaching pressure

- A creation of awareness amongst the local politicians and at government level, as well as internationally

- Anti-poaching teams on all ranches and efforts to establish a ‘crack-unit’ of highly trained and armed scouts to operate throughout the conservancy

- Efforts by trained and licensed biologists to rescue wildlife trapped in snares and to immobilise and treat injured individuals carrying snares

We at the African Wildlife Conservation Fund are instrumental in helping to achieve all these goals. However, it is to help us achieve the last goal that we need your help.  I recently received training and a license to immobilise all wildlife species within the conservancy for the purposes of desnaring and treatment.  There are two other people in the conservancy who are also now licensed to do this, and between us we hope to be able to help the wildlife. 

Snared wild dog immobilised for treatment

Unfortunately, as mentioned in the post of 2^nd April, the cost of the drugs required is very high.  For example for enough drugs to immobilise 10 wild dogs (including the knock-down drug, the sedative and the reversal) would cost US$500, i.e. $50 per dog.  For herbivores however, the drugs are much more expensive.  One vial of the main knock-down drug (5ml) and its reversal costs US$600.  Depending on the species, this would immobilise between 5 to 10 animals, assuming no darts miss.  However, in addition to this drug, you need a sedative drug which costs US$106 per vial, and at least 2 vials of the human antidote (because this drugs is life-threatening to humans) which cost US$200 per vial.  So in order to be ready to help treat wounded wildlife, we need to buy at least US$1500 worth of drugs (and that’s only a start…).

We are also supporting the conservancy anti-poaching efforts by trying to raise money for incentives for the game scouts, and also for radios and uniforms for them.  Any donations to either of these causes would be extremely appreciated, and we can assure you every cent goes directly to the wildlife or the scouts.

Many thanks in advance,

Rosemary

Tags: poaching, snaring, Wild Dogs, Zimbabwe's wildlife

6 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 01 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Just a quick post to let you know the denning season is on it’s way.  I saw the alpha female of the Maera pack a few days ago and she was quite hevily preganant!  Very exciting.  They are usually quite an early pack, and should den down in a couple of weeks so we should see the pups towards the end of May or early June.  We also saw signs of pregnancy in one of the Bedford pack females, but not yet in the Teddy pack.  I’ll keep you posted with their progress.

The mother-to-be!

Rosemary 

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