Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Wild Dogs, poaching, zimbabwe | Date: Aug 08 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Rosemary here again - sorry I have been quiet recently; I was away for a while and then have been busy in the field since I got back.  Anyway, the day before yesterday I got a call about a badly snared dog.  We rushed straight out but didnt manage to find the dog again, although our tracker Misheck did manage to follow the tracks from where the dogs had been seen and locate a den site.  This was good news: not only was that another den site located but it would give us a chance of finding the injured dog again.  So yesterday morning I went out again and fortunately we found the snared dog near the den.  The wire from the snare was all around his neck and clearly irritating him, and the wound looked bad (note the wire in the photo below)…

 Luckily we successfully managed to immobilise the dog and remove the snare.

The wound was pretty bad but fortunately had not cut through the wind pipe and was fairly clean, so I think we got there in time…

Fortunately I had my family visiting me and all were very helpful ensuring the dog got the best possible care.  We cleaned and disinfected the wound and gave him a dose of long-acting penicillin to prevent infection.  Then we gave him the reversal drugs and watched him until he was safely on his feet again.

When I checked on him this morning, he was with the other males in the pack and looking fine - it was clearly a relief to him to be able to rest his head without the snare wire catching on things. 

So that was a pretty busy morning, but about half an hour after I got back home, I got a call to come and rescue a buffalo calf caught in a snare.  Again we successfully managed to do this, and I will post a blog about it in a few days.  But I just want to thank those who donated money for the drugs because had I not had those drugs I would not have been able to help either the dog or the buffalo.

Back soon,

Rosemary

Tags: darting, injury, poaching, snaring, wild dog immobilisation, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe

2 responses so far