August 2000

To begin with I must apologise for the lack of updates over the last few months. The lack of regular access to computer facilities is the only excuse I can offer!

After a bumpy start to the year the project was just finding its feet when Zimbabwe plunged into a political and economic crisis. This report will outline the effects this has had on the project as well as update the progress of the project and the dogs.

The applied research

Despite the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe the project began the applied research around the Bote pack den site on the 2^nd of May. The applied research was intended to investigate the impact the dogs were having on their principle prey species around the den site. The Bote pack denned on Mapare Ranch in a central paddock allowing for our entire research programme to operate well within the conservancy. On the 20^th of May we darted and radio collared an adult male from the pack to facilitate the monitoring of pack movements. For the duration of the denning period the pack was monitored and game counts were conducted on a regular basis. The dogs changed den site three times and the denning season closed at the end of July with the dogs leaving the study area with their five pups. The data collected during this period has yet to be processed but it would appear that apart from direct casualties the dogs had very little impact on the kudu and impala populations.

The basic monitoring

The fuel situation has continued to handicap the basic monitoring programme and consequently we have focused most of our attention on the three packs in the north of Save Valley Conservancy. The remaining two radio collars were fitted, one to the Bote pack and the other to the Mavericks pack. The trackers have continued to provide invaluable assistance and have done a superb job continuing the monitoring without the help of a vehicle. Mishek, the most recent addition to the team, has proved his worth and is now an efficient wild dog tracker.

Pack updates
Save Valley Conservancy

Bote Pack

As mentioned previously, Bote denned down on Mapare Ranch. Just prior to denning 2 dogs left the pack leaving a total of 16 dogs. It is believed that the Alfa female had 5 pups, all of which have survived. Sadly this pack had the unfortunate experience of losing one of the adult male dogs to a snare but I will expand on this later on in the report. A further two dogs disappeared at the same time (possibly to snares) leaving a total of 14 adult dogs and 5 pups.

Dombo Pack

Continuing their run of misfortune, the Dombo pack did not den down this season. The primary reason for this we believe was the disappearance of the Alfa male in June. When last seen the Alfa male appeared in poor condition and it is strongly believed he died of old age. Sadly, the Alfa female appeared heavily pregnant when the Alfa male was last seen but as yet there has been no sign as to what happened to these pups. What remains a mystery is that the Alfa male was fitted with a radio collar and since his disappearance we have not been able to locate the signal. After a brief absence, the remaining pack returned to their old areas and now consists of 8 dogs.

Jacana Pack

The Jacana pack denned on Sango Ranch on the 14th July. This is one of the packs we are trying to condition to vehicles for the purpose of wild dog safaris and thus I have spent many hours at the den site. Unfortunately there are only 3 pups but the dogs have settled down really well and we can now get within a few yards of them.

Mavericks

This pack has undoubtedly been the toast of the season. The pack denned on Senuko Ranch in June and had 8 pups, of which 6 have survived. This leaves a current total of 14 adult dogs and six pups. In June I collared an adult male (Black Tail) from the pack. Apart from exceptional viewing at the den site the dogs were very obliging on the hunt and I had the fortune of following and watching a few hunts unfold. Thanks must go to Clive Stockhill and Lynn Barrie who visited the dogs on a daily basis getting them accustomed to vehicles and for shedding some light on the social structure of the pack. The denning season climaxed with a number of highly successful "wild dog weekends" where clients had the privilege of witnessing the day to day life of the dogs and their pups from a few metres.

Turgwe Pack

After much speculation as to whether this pack was still in existence a den site was found on Angus ranch. Unfortunately the den was discovered just after the dogs had left and we have yet to establish the exact number of pups. The pack currently consists of 8 adults and 3 or 4 pups. Angus Ranch has been one of the ranches suffering from land invasions and heavy poaching but despite this the pack seems well.

Chiredzi River Conservancy

Ruware Pack

The Ruware Pack denned on Buffalo Range Ranch situated to the south west of the conservancy. We have not confirmed the number of adult dogs or pups in this pack. Unfortunately, not only has this ranch experienced heavy poaching but also the majority of the land has been designated for resettlement. This, together with the livestock problem (they are notorious cattle killers) has been a major factor in the project considering the translocation of this pack to greener pastures.

Packs further afield.

Due to the lack of fuel we have not been able to monitor the packs in the Gonarezhou National Park and Malelangwe Conservation Trust. Malelangwe have reported that of the two packs resident on the property, only one has denned.

Education and awareness

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the tourism industry, On Safari International and Senuko Safari Lodge hosted a few very successful 'wild dog weekends'. The weekends were focused around the incredibly relaxed Mavericks Pack. I gave a few talks and accompanied the clients on a few outings to the den site. Wild dogs during the denning season provide fantastic entertainment and action packed drives and it is hoped that the popularity of these weekends will continue to grow.

Promotional work on cattle ranches has unfortunately been limited due to the fuel shortages and the fact that the majority of these ranches have been designated and/or resettled. We have however planned a meeting with all cattle ranches experiencing wild dog problems and this will hopefully take place next month.

Alistair Pole has continued to support the project with the creation of this website.

Zimbabwe situation affecting wild dogs

The year 2000 has so far been a year of turmoil for Zimbabwe and it wasn't as a result of Aliens, Armageddon or Ozone! I will avoid the political issue and try to give you an idea of how the whole situation has affected the project and more importantly, the dogs. I will concentrate on the SVC story but bear in mind that this is by no means the only area experiencing these problems.

Land invasions

Land invasions began on the 20^th April with approximately 350 people invading Sango Ranch. The situation culminated with 20 of the 22 ranches being occupied by an unknown number of illegal settlers. The initial invasions were characterised by general lawlessness and death threats were received by a number of ranch personnel. Extensive areas were occupied by so called war veterans and the management of these areas became impossible. This resulted in a few of the local landowners and managers evacuating the conservancy and I too left for Bulawayo for a weeklong holiday. By the time the situation had stabilised numerous semi-permanent settlements had been established throughout the conservancy. To date the situation remains roughly the same but the settlements have now been restricted to mainly designated ranches.

Land designation

Land designation began with the listing of only two of the 22 ranches but this figure has since escalated to 12. This constitutes approximately 50% of the total SVC. Besides the loss of land the designated ranches form a vital link between the north and south of the conservancy and without them the conservancy will be effectively divided in two.

Land is probably the single most important factor in the recent success of the regions wild dog population. When one looks at the size of land needed to support one medium sized pack of wild dogs it becomes clear that even the loss of a few SVC ranches will seriously jeopardise the future of the regions wild dog population.Fuel

Since December Zimbabwe has been facing increasing fuel shortages as a result of the economic crisis. Petrol supplies have been relatively constant but limited. The situation has forced many of the ranches to conserve the little fuel they have and the project has had to source and secure its own supply. Ultimately this has led to decreased activity in the field at a time when simple field monitoring could save lives.

Poaching

With the arrival of the settlements the poaching on SVC increased dramatically. Much of the high-tensile game fence wire and telephone cable was stolen from the conservancy for the manufacture of crude wire snares. Literally thousands of these snares were set all over the conservancy in long 'snare lines', resulting in the death of countless animals. On one ranch alone 1828 snares were collected between June 15^th and August 22^nd. The animals found dead in the snares include - Impala, Kudu, Waterbuck, Bushbuck, Wildebeest, Zebra, Warthog, Eland, Cheetah and Leopard. Numerous Giraffe and Elephant have been seen wondering around with snares around limbs but as yet no fatalities have been recorded. Bear in mind that these figures are from a single ranch and represent only the tip of the iceberg. The poachers remove most of the snares and snared animals before they are found and much of the poaching takes place in 'no go' areas where anti-poaching patrols are forbidden by the war veterans.

Of the two specially protected species inhabiting the conservancy, namely black rhino and wild dog, only one wild dog casualty can be directly linked to the snaring. A number of wild dogs have however disappeared since the invasions and it is feared that these too have fallen victim to the poachers' snares. Two rhino were snared but thankfully these were located and released before they sustained fatal injuries.

If the poaching problem continues to escalate, not only will the wild dogs' prey populations be seriously threatened but also the stability of the packs could be lost due to the absence of prominent dogs. The social structure of wild dog packs is such that the loss of a single dog could result in the demise of the entire pack.

Besides this, the decreasing economically vital game populations have compounded the socio-economic crisis and the tolerance of ranchers towards wild dogs may once again be put to the test.

The death of a wild dog

On Saturday 12^th August we located the Bote pack on Msaise Ranch to discover one of the adult male dogs with a snare around his waist. The broken snare had cut through the skin creating a massive flesh wound.

In order to remove the snare the dog had to be darted and immobilised but due to other rescue missions in the south of the conservancy the dart gun could only be collected on Tuesday morning. The following few days were thus spent anxiously following the pack and monitoring the progress of the snared dog. Apart from the obvious pain the dog appeared to be in a semi-stable condition.

On Tuesday morning we set off to try and dart the dog. The pack was located on Msaise Ranch and the snared dog appeared to be in the same condition. It was at this stage we noticed another dog in the pack had lost its entire left ear and part of the skin off its forehead from a snare. The first shot at the snared dog missed and the pack ran off. The second attempt also proved unsuccessful with the needle breaking off due to the emaciated condition of the dog. The dog jumped up and it was immediately clear that we were too late. The stress and physical exertion caused by the first failed darting attempt had resulted in the snare cutting into the animals stomach. Roughly a metre of the intestines hung from the stomach and as if in a fit of rage the dog began to tear at the open wound. A later inspection of the animals stomach contents revealed that it had infact eaten the majority of its small intestine.

After a short while the dog finally settled down again at the base of a tree. With no darts left I tried to stalk the animal and managed to get within half a metre of him. It was just before I threw my jacket over him that he jumped up and ran off. At this stage our only option was to catch the animal and the trackers and I gave chase. The dog eventually tired and we managed to surround him. His pitiful attempts to defend himself were limited to a few whimpers, never once trying to bite anyone. Through sheer exhaustion he eventually collapsed and I was able to put him out of his misery.

Ironically it was roughly this time last century the wild dogs of the SE Lowveld began their long and slow decline at the hands of Man. Cattle ranching alone virtually wiped out the entire population and by the early 1980's it was thought that at most only a few packs remained. In the late 1980's, at the brink of their total annihilation, the wildlife industry came to the rescue claiming back vast tracks of cattle land for the sake of wildlife. With the establishment of the conservancies in the early 1990's, the wild dog population exploded rapidly recolonising large portions of their former range.

Now, at the dawn of the 20^th century, the wild dogs of the SE Lowveld once again find themselves facing a similar bleak and hostile future. It would be a sad day and indeed a terrible tragedy if we allowed this second and possibly final demise of Africa's most endangered large carnivore in one of Africa's greatest wildlife areas.

Funding

Once again, to mention all responsible for the continuation of the project is beyond the scope of this report. Needless to say, the support received by the project so far this year has been incredible. Despite the instability of the country, Brian Rutledge, President and CEO of Zoo New England visited the project in June and pledged his and the Zoo's support for at least a further year. The Zoo has provided the funding for the backbone of the project and without this support the project would not be able to function. Numerous foreign individuals and organisations have also contributed significantly allowing for the purchase of 'research luxuries' such as a laptop computer. I do however feel that a special thanks must go to the Zimbabwean public and private sector who, despite mammoth problems of their own, continue to support the project.

Patrick Aust

Co-ordinator

Lowveld Wild Dog Project

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