Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

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

Hi folks,

I thought it about time I gave you an update on the welfare of the snared wild dogs that you will have read about in this blog. 

Last year, we managed to remove a snare from around the waist of an adult male dog living in the south of the conservancy. 

The snare was succesfully removed but having cut off the penile sheath we were somewhat concerned about his future breeding ability.  Affectionately known as ‘Willy Wonka’, he has however gone on to do what wild dogs do best and surprised us all by fathering a litter of four puppies this year!! 

Another very positive surprise was the pup from last year who had a horrific injury from a snare tight around his neck:

Despite our best efforts, we actually never succeeded in removing this snare and feared the worst for this little fellow, whom we named Bandit.  However, I’m happy to report that he survived, lost the snare and is now an active member of his pack.  He’s particularly good with this years litter of pups and I often see him checking on the pups or regurgitating for them. 

The adult male (Brownie) whom we de-snared in August is also still doing well.  He was the alpha male of his pack and is now fit and healthy with no sign of injury…

And lastly, Hopalong, the beautiful yearling female from the Bedford Pack who had that horrible deep snare wound under her leg…

She also recovered extremely well and has gone from badly limping to showing no sign of a limp at all….

Despite the happy ending of the stories of these individuals, snaring remains a constant threat to wild dogs and other wildlife in the conservancy.  More than 18 wild dogs have been killed by snares in the past few years and the threat remains undiminished.  Nonetheless, the recent employment of an overall anti-poaching manager in the conservancy, as well as new and improved monitoring systems will hopefully start to make a difference, and I hope we have less de-snaring to do over the forth coming year.

Thanks for the support of everyone who has helped these dogs through their donations to the project.  Given how highly endangered the species is, every single individual matters and saving one can be the making of a whole new pack, as in the case of Willy Wonka!

Back soon,

Rosemary

Tags: pups, snares, snaring, Wild Dogs, zimbabwe

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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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