Funding needed to conserve African wild dogs

They quietly work together as a team to tear the tough skin and get to the meat and organs inside. This is done without any growling or aggression as one might have expected. The first dogs eat in a hurry, before they trot back to the denning site a few hundred meters away, where the meat will be regurgitated for the four-week-old pups.

Die Pos has bestowed the honor to view these spectacular animals first-hand during the past week. The two wild dog packs in the Waterberg area are some of the last free-roaming groups in the country. The dogs, which were once widespread in Southern Africa, are now one of the most endangered species. They are listed as Africa’s second most endangered carnivore, after the Ethiopian wolf. It is estimated that there are currently 6 000 dogs in Africa and an estimated 800 in South Africa.

The Waterberg Wild Dog Initiative (WWDI) works to ensure the survival of wild dogs and works with cattle- and game farmers in the area to promote co-existence. Farmers often see the dogs as a threat to their livelihoods as they may catch livestock and valuable game. This is where the WWDI steps in.

The free-roaming dogs migrate between several private properties. Some of the dogs are fitted with tracking collars, which enable the WWDI to keep track of their movements. They contact the farmers if the dogs are traveling in their property’s direction. “If they are worried that the dogs will cause damage to their livestock, we encourage them to send staff out to make lots of noise.

The dogs do not like elevated activities or noise and would rather not stay in that area.” They also try to reimburse farmers for losses caused by the dogs.

The pack the media viewed, referred to as the TOOG pack (Tambotie Overyssel Ondersteuningsgroep) is denning successfully for the third year about 30 km south of Lephalale. They also have a 100% survival rate for their pups, which is a rare occurrence. The pack currently roams an area of about 120 000 m² across several properties. Although they have raised puppies successfully, the dogs face many obstacles and their numbers stay low.

Die Pos reported previously that four dogs were lost after they dispersed from their packs. Though it was hoped that the dogs, three females from the TOOG pack and two males from the Melkrivier pack, would meet up to form a new pack, it was not successful. Only one was able to return to her pack after months of roaming. The others were killed by snares or got stuck in a fence. Another dog was killed last week after it was hit by a truck near the denning site on the R33.

At the helm of the project is Reilly Mooney, a young American who lost her heart in the Waterberg.

“I came to South Africa for a research project on Ken Maud’s farm. I loved it here and after six months I did not want to return to Wisconsin. I was so grateful when the opportunity to work with the wild dogs came up.”

She has been here for four years and married a South African.

“We hope that the signs that have been put up next to the road will encourage travelers to slow down and be on the lookout for the dogs,” she said.

The natural enemies of the African wild dogs are lions and spotted hyenas, which are not common in this area. The Waterberg dogs, however, face disease due to contact with unvaccinated domestic dogs, snaring, road collisions, and habitat fragmentation. Snake bites encounters with porcupines, and conflicts with humans also cause deaths. According to Mooney wild dogs are a protected species — on the same level as rhinos. The punishment meted out to those who shoot them, would therefore be the same.

Some of the interesting facts about the wild dogs include that the Waterberg packs are distinctive as they have more white coloring than those in the Kruger Park. The alpha female, interestingly, is not the largest of the dogs and is cripple due to an injury to her front leg. The rest of the pack cares for her and will let her, and any other injured dog, eat first. When she is nursing her pups, they will take food to her.

The WWDI offers tours to view the dogs during denning season. They have been habituated to react to a recorded call the team plays on a cell phone and the pack knows that there will be an easy lunch available soon. Carcasses are donated by local farmers. Though they love impala and kudu, they have grown used to warthog, Mooney said.

The funds generated by these tours will be used to place more tracking collars on dogs that might disperse, monitor their movements, and keep land owners up to date on their whereabouts. The collars and vet fees vary between R40 000 to R100 000. The collars need to be replaced once a year.

For more info about viewing the wild dogs, contact Mooney on tel. 073 791 6249.