Hi folks,
I have some sad news to report. We were following up on a signal from the Maera pack, hoping to locate the pack and check up on them after the Christmas period. Sadly, what we found was a carcass, together with the collar.
The wild dog was an adult female called Cindy. She was born into a pack known as the Bridges Pack in 2004, making her seven and a half years old when she died. Although wild dogs have been known to live to 11 years, average life expectancy is quite a lot lower, and Cindy definitely had a good innings. Her sister, Harriet, who was the alpha female of the Maera pack from 2008 to 2011 went missing last year as well. Although we never found the carcass, we assume her dead because it would be unlikely that she just left the pack a) on her own and b) while her alpha male was still there.
We cannot be sure of Cindy’s cause of death – it may have been old age as her teeth were very worn, but we’ll never know for sure. We estimate she died sometime in early December as she was last seen in late November and the advanced state of decomposition of the carcass suggests she died before all the heavy rains that occurred just before Christmas.
Here’s a picture of her in 2008, when she had a sneaky litter of pups, despite being only the Beta female. You can see the big white letter ‘C’ on her side which led to her name.
Cindy was the first wild dog I ever saw when I moved to the Save Valley Conservancy to start the job, and has been a key member of a key pack since then. I will miss her!
Rosemary
One Comment
Oh Rosemary – so very sorry to hear of Cindy’s death. I can imagine how you are feeling since she was the ‘first’ wild dog you saw when you moved. Was the collar still putting out active signals? Rest in Peace beautiful “C”.