Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Wild Dogs, poaching, zimbabwe | Date: Sep 03 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Some good news to report today: we managed to dart and remove a snare from another wild dog a couple of days ago.  She was a beatuful female yearling in the Bedford Pack - tentatively named Hopalong beacuse of the snare wound under her front right leg which made her limp badly. 

Here’s a picture of her with the snare (note the wound behind the front right leg, and the limp):

I was helped by Rafael, together with Karen Paolillo from the Turgwe Hippo Trust and a volunteer of theirs, and the snare removal all went well.  Karen found the dog after she had gone down (they tend to run off into thick bush after being darted and it can take a while to find them!), and quickly blindfolded her and removed the snare.  The wound was very deep and wide, but remarkably clean, thanks to the caring and social nature of the other pack members.

We did what we could - cleaning, disinfecting and spraying something to prevent tick/maggot or screw-worm infection, and gave her a dose of long-acting Penicillin.   

She recovered well from the immobilisation, and the following day when we went back to the den to check on her, she appeared with barely even a limp.  Such incredible resilience! 

This is once again thanks to the support of you folks out there who enabled us to buy the drugs. 

Rosemary

Tags: recovery from snare injury, snaring, Wild Dogs, wound treatment, zimbabwe

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