Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 08 2008 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi guys,

Just wanted to send a quick project update.  Unfortunately Roy has left the project now - he’s gone to be a guide in South Africa, so it’s back to being just me for a while.  Sp forgive the infrequent posts from now on: I don’t have too much time on the internet.

Anyhow, just to update you on things as they are.  The newly collared male from the Mapari pack is doing well - we’ve located the pack several times since the collaring, using his collar and all is well.  They seemed to have completely moved from their old core home range to an area quite close to where I live, which is very convenient!  

We are going to try again with the snare removal of the pup on Wednesday. I have been spending quite a lot of the intervening time trying to habituate the dogs to the vehicle, in the hope that we can get close enough to dart, but they have been remarkably difficult to even find (I think the collar battery is going flat) and then often they are in a place inaccessible by vehicle.  Anyway, we’ll keep working on that today and tomorrow and then try to dart again on Wednesday.  Fingers crossed we succeed this time.  And thanks again to those of you who donated money to help us do this.  Every little bit helps and makes continued efforts possible. 

The Bedford pack is doing well - this pack is frequently sighted at water pans and is still about 30 individuals although reprts on the exact number have varied.  I’ll be going down to check up on them on Thursday or Friday hopefully.  The Mavericks pack which live in the south of the conservancy has sadly lost one member and is now down to 3 dogs. 

Mina’s pack (the Nyarushanga pack) we get internmittent reports of.  Unfortunately we didn’t manage to collar this pack before they left the den, so are unable to check up on them regularly.  But from the occasional report, it seems they are doing fine and still have all their pups.

It’s horribly hot here at the moment, and reasonably humid too, but there doesn’t seem to be much sign of rain.  I hope it comes soon - it really is very dry here!

Back soon,

Rosemary 

Tags: collars, packs, snares, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe

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