Free roaming African wild dog collared
The Waterberg district is home to most of the last free-roaming African wild dogs in South Africa.
One such wild dog, from a free-roaming pack in the district, was captured and successfully fitted with a GPS tracking collar on Saturday 23 January. This was done while the pack was residing close to Tholo Bush Lodge between Vaalwater and Lephalale.
The Post interviewed Reilly Mooney of the Waterberg Wild Dog Initiative (WWDI), which was established in August 2020 to assist with the conservation of African wild dogs in the Waterberg area.
Mooney said: “Placing collars on the free roaming packs will provide valuable information to the research teams. This will also assist in the human-wildlife conflict, because landowners and community members will be alerted in advance when the packs are moving into their area.”
“This pack of wild dogs comprises 11 dogs, including four adults and seven juveniles born last year. The first adult male wild dog was successfully collared in August last year. With the second collar fitted now, we will be able to provide reliable monitoring of the pack’s movements,” Mooney said.
“This successful collaring would not have been possible without the generous contribution of two GPS tracking collars from The Aspinall Foundation (TAF), which is a charitable organisation based in the United Kingdom (UK), devoted to the conservation of endangered wildlife species. This was the first time we have partnered with TAF and we look forward to a longstanding partnership.”
The devoted support team that assisted on Saturday 23 January was Andy Fraser, veterinarian, Derek van der Merwe of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), Reilly Mooney of the Waterberg Wild Dog Initiative (WWDI) and Lambert van der Westhuizen, helicopter pilot of West Dunes Aviation.
Members of the community Peet Henning, Graeme Stander and James Higgs also assisted. The African wild dog, or painted dog or wolf, used to roam free in the grasslands, forests and mountains in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Sadly, they are now a globally endangered species, with less than 5 000 free-roaming wild dogs remaining worldwide and less than 450 known wild dogs in South Africa.
Find out more about wild dogs on the WWDI’s Facebook page: Waterberg Wild Dogs, or find them on Instagram: @waterberg_wild_dogs(.)
