Photo © PDC
Grants made to Painted Dog Conservation by Predator Conservation Trust
December 2005 August 2006 March 2007 July 2007 March 2008 May 2008 October 2009
This page: March 2009 April 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009
Archived 2008 updates: April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 August 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008
Archived 2007 updates: January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September/October 2007 November 2007 December 2007
Archived 2006 updates: February 2006 April 2006, May 2006, June 2006, October 2006 November 2006 December 2006
One of the most endangered large carnivores is the Painted Dog, also known as the African Wild dog, and the Cape Hunting Dog. These beautiful animals have been ruthlessly persecuted by man to the point where they are extinct in most areas where they formerly lived and only a few small populations survive. The Painted Dog was generally regarded as vermin and was persecuted in farming areas under the auspices of protect livestock, and even in many national parks under the misguided intention of protecting antelope populations). Now however they are no longer persecuted in national parks, but they still face a difficult future for a number of reasons, one of which is their need for large areas of land to hunt in (the average home range for a wild dog has been reported as between 400 and 900km2). The largest populations of Painted Dogs are found in Tanzania, Botswana and Zimbabwe, with smaller numbers found in other countries such as Namibia, Zambia and South Africa.
The trustees of the Predator Conservation Trust are pleased to be able to help in the fight to conserve the Painted Dog by funding a grant to the Painted Dog Research Project (also known as Painted Dog Conservation) based in Zimbabwe.
The Painted Dog Research Project was founded by Greg Rasmussen in 1989 and is now a unique and thriving and successful conservation project. Based on the edge of the Hwange national park, the painted Dog Research Project works in a number of broad areas to conserve the wild dogs:
The Painted Dog Research Project has recently succeeded in getting the Zimbabwean government to give special protected status to the wild dogs - quite a feat given Zimbabwe’s current difficulties.
The Anti poaching teams patrol on a daily basis searching for snares left by
poachers which they then remove. It is estimated that 10% of snares will if not
removed eventually kill an animal, so when you consider the fact that the anti
poaching teams have removed over 10,000 snares in the last 4 years this shows
the incredible impact they are making. While poachers don't set snares for wild
dogs the snares don't discriminate in the animals that they kill and so dogs
have been killed by the wire snares.
Greg and his team have also started fitting the dogs with special radio collars
that have a steel plate attached to catch a snare and prevent it killing the
dog.
Like the Brown Hyena project, the Painted Dog project has had success in reducing the number of animals killed on the roads by getting special road signs erected.
Painted Dog Conservation opened their Iganyana Children's bush camp in 2004 to
teach the children from the local area about wildlife in general and the wild
dogs in particular, and this is already proving very popular with over 1200
children having visited the camp already.
For a conservation project to really succeed in the long term, it is important
that the local population feels part of it and that they see the benefits of
conserving the wildlife. Greg and his team have had great success in getting
the support of the local community, which has helped them avoid the worst of the
problems Zimbabwe has endured in recent years.
One of the successful community projects that is run is an arts and crafts centre where the old wire snares removed by the anti poaching teams are used to make wild sculptures which the local population then sell to Painted Dog Conservation who then export them and sell them abroad. This means the people who take part are able to earn money and thus see direct benefits to Painted Dog Conservation. A recent addition to the project was to allow the local children to attend when they are not at school (the local police requested that Greg do this to keep the children occupied and out of mischief). Rather than the children being paid for their sculptures, the project instead pays their school fees for them instead.
Painted Dog Conservation recently carried out a wild dog reintroduction. Painted dog puppies had been confiscated from wildlife traffickers trying to smuggle them out of the country to South Africa, and after being hand reared they were introduced to an island in lake Kariba which had a large quantity of game but which has had no predators for some decades. The game animals were unused to predators, so the wild dogs which were having to learn to hunt for the first time were on an even footing and hunted and fed themselves for several months before being darted and reintroduced to the wild in Matusadona national park.
To learn more about Painted Dog Conservation, click here to visit their website.
Painted Dog Conservation identified that their 13 year old dart gun was in urgent need of repair/refurbishment, a process that will lead to it being out of action for up to eight months while it is sent back to the manufacturers (the bureaucracy associated with shipping a dart gun which is classed alongside firearms is horrendous). Obviously the project could not function properly for that length of time without a dart gun, so they approached the Predator Conservation Trust for funds to purchase a new dart gun. This would allow the original to be refurbished without the project field work suffering and would result in them ending up with two dart guns - which as the project is going from strength to strength will be of enormous help and needed.
The trustees of the Predator Conservation Trust were extremely happy to be able to help Greg Rasmussen and his team by funding the full cost of the dart gun plus a number of low impact tranquiliser darts at a cost of around £1200.
Photo © PDC
In mid July we were approached by Greg Rasmussen of the Painted Dog Project in
Zimbabwe to see if we would be willing to help purchase a vehicle for
the projects anti poaching units. The trustees were all in favour of funding the
vehicle and quickly raised the additional funds needed to purchase the vehicle
in its entirety. We worked quickly to get the funds ready while Greg located a
suitable vehicle. Just 3 weeks from the initial approach a suitable
vehicle had been located, the funds transferred and the vehicle purchased.
On 6th August three of the PCT trustees, Bob Kimber, Simon Marsh and Anthony
May, travelled to Oxfordshire to meet Greg Rasmussen and formally hand over the
new vehicle - by now adorned with the logos of both Predator Conservation Trust
and the Painted Dog Project.
The Anti poaching teams patrol on a daily basis searching for snares left by
poachers which they then remove. It is estimated that 10% of snares will if not
removed eventually kill an animal, so the fact that the anti
poaching teams have removed over 10,000 snares in the last 4 years shows
the incredible impact they are making. While poachers don't set snares for wild
dogs the snares don't discriminate between the animals that they kill and so dogs
have been killed by the wire snares. The anti poaching teams operate 365
days a year and visit different areas at random to avoid a pattern that would
help the poachers avoid them. They rely on having a working vehicle to
carry out their work.
The total cost of the vehicle (including a spare engine which will be invaluable
in keeping the vehicle running in the harsh conditions in which it will be
operating) was £4100 (approx US $7800).
In August 2006, Predator Conservation Trust funded the purchase of a landrover and a spare engine for the Painted Dog Project in Zimbabwe. The spare engine required a thorough overhaul and some new parts to get it to the state where it is now a fully working spare engine. The work has been carried out in the UK while the Painted Dog Project team arranged for shipping of the landrover, the engine and a large quantity of other equipment from the UK to Zimbabwe. The landrover and spare engine are now en route to Zimbabwe where they will be invaluable in helping the Painted Dog Project's anti-poaching unit carry out their vital work. The Trustees of the Predator Conservation Trust have approved a grant of £300 towards the costs involved in getting the spare engine refurbished.
The landrover funded by the Predator Conservation Trust has been shipped from the UK to Zimbabwe along with the spare (and freshly refurbished) engine, and is now in active use with the Painted Dog Project's anti-poaching unit. Having a reliable vehicle plus a spare engine will be a great help for the anti poaching unit in carrying out their vital work.
In March 2008, the Trustees of the Predator Conservation Trust approved a grant of around £1000 (US $ 2000) to Painted Dog Conservation in two parts.
The first was for the purchase of remote camera traps. These can be placed and left alone. An infra-red beam is broken by any animals that pass through it and this triggers the camera to take a digital photograph. Some of the units will be used at suspected Painted Dog den sites to monitor them for any activity without disturbing the dogs that may be using them, and others will be used to develop fieldwork protocols for planned work in Cameroon.
The second is for the purchase of GPS units which are designed to integrate with Google Earth (Super Tracksticks). These provide a continuously updated record of the exact route, stop times, speed and direction and other valuable information. The Super Trackstick even has its own built in temperature recorder to monitor and record its environment. These units can be used when doing survey work (e.g. population counts where transects need to be recorded accurately). They will also be used by the anti poaching units and will provide a detailed map of the areas covered by the teams and will be a great help in maximising the efficiency of the teams and planning where to deploy them.
The Predator Conservation Trust ran a successful fundraising campaign in conjunction with the Safaritalk website (www.safaritalk.net) from February to April 2008. The campaign was to purchase collars which are fitted with special plates made from aluminium which runs along the base of the collar with 3 rows of rivets, 17 in total, protruding from it. These stop the snare sliding across the collar and onto the dogs neck stopping it from cutting into the dogs neck, and the rivets also help the dog break the wire snare and escape.
Read about the appeal in our forum or on Safaritalk.
In the space of a few weeks the members of Safaritalk very generously donated enough funds to purchase three of these anti-snare collars at a cost of £510 (around US$1020). The funds have now been transferred to Painted Dog Conservation for them to purchase the collars.
In early October 2009, the Trustees of the Predator Conservation Trust were pleased to be able to make another grant to Painted Dog Conservation. The grant was for £1000 and was for several VHF collars. The collars will allow the PDC team to keep track of painted dogs after they are released into the wild.
The year seems to have got off to a flying start. Certainly for Greg and I, as we have both just completed another exhausting though rewarding trip to the USA, UK and Holland in an effort to raise much needed funds for the months ahead. Obviously the global recession was at the forefront of the minds of many of the people we met and we certainly share their concern at a time when operating costs in Zimbabwe continue to rise. The level of support that has been afforded us over the years has been exceptional and I certainly hope that all of our supporters can somehow manage to maintain that level during these difficult times.
Before I left Zimbabwe I made yet another trip to Starvation Island with Jealous and company. This time we took an all male pack of 5 to the island, a mixed bag, made up from 2 of the injured (now recovered) Pilansberg males, a male from Chipingali, Londoloza and Mashambo. Reports about the condition of the road concerned us and I sent Jealous on ahead two days before me. Once he confirmed his safe arrival I sent the next group by road from Bulawayo to Kariba, which is a 10 hour drive, towing the boat behind them. I then worked with Xmas and the rest of the rehab team to process the 5 dogs through our squeeze cage and load them into a light aircraft for the 50 minute flight. The pilot confessed to being a little nervous about his passengers and looked slightly agitated when one of the dogs woke up mid flight. He got us there as quickly as he could and Jealous plus the boat crew met us on arrival to help transfer the dogs from the plane into the boat and across to the island. It took the dogs longer than I anticipated to wake up but eventually all 5 were trotting about. It was the next day that we had some concerns because the Chipingali male, Lobels, was on his own, over 1km from the other 4. With the help of National Parks, we provided him with some food and then created a “blood trail” between the two groups by dragging the carcass through the bush. This worked and happily the next day saw all 5 dogs re-united. I am not sure why they had split up. Though they had been together in our rehab for a couple of months the bond between them was perhaps not strong enough for them or certainly for Lobels to understand that he needed the other 4.
I was obviously anxious for news of the dogs on my return from the fundraising trip. I had left Edward on the island and he reported in, literally hours after I had landed in Harare. The news was encouraging. The 5 were doing well, having made a couple of kills and seemed to be in good condition. Of course the crocodiles who had wrecked our last efforts were again in the picture as Edward had seem them kill a waterbuck, which had run into the lake to escape the dogs. I was nervous and drove up to the boat, which was in Kariba waiting for me and got across to the island as quickly as I could. That afternoon the dogs came out of the bush to “greet me” and I was happy at their condition. They soon turned their attention to a herd of waterbuck and tried to single out a sub adult female. However the adult waterbuck would have none of this and soon a comedy of dogs chasing waterbuck, waterbuck chasing dogs unfolded before us. Though the dogs failed to catch the waterbuck, the exercise provided me with ample evidence of the 5 dogs being able to work together as a pack. If I can’t find a suitable female for the pack I will consider moving them to the mainland sooner than later. News of the dogs in Hwange was also encouraging, though the report of 15 dogs near the local town of Dete was a false alarm. Jealous investigated this thoroughly and drew a blank. A real sighting of 5 dogs however brought a smile to our faces and Jealous is hot on their tail in an effort to identify them properly.
The local Primary Schools did manage to open while I was away and though we had already brought children into our Bush Camp, the fact that the schools were operating made life a little easier. As if to prove a point, Wilton and his excellent team also encouraged a private school from Harare to attend the camp for a week and we also played host to a school for the handicapped from Bulawayo.
Peter Blinston
Exceptional rains have caused extensive flooding along the Zambezi River, which is now at its highest level in over fifty years. The consequence of this for us is that the water levels on lake Kariba are rising daily, soon the water will reach the tree line on Starvation Island, reducing the island quite considerably in size, making hunting for the dogs surprisingly harder and bringing the crocodiles even closer. I have made two trips to the island in the last couple of weeks to assess the situation. I listened to Edward Muchuchuti’s words of wisdom, only a fool wouldn’t, as Edward has lived and worked in the area for over twenty years. I consulted with National Parks and eventually we all reached a consensus that the wise course of action would be to remove the dogs from the island. Back in Hwange, I convened a meeting with Jealous and the Rehab team to make plans. I always like to discuss such situations in full with the guys as they always have ideas and insight into the situation, which can prove invaluable. It’s far from a top down decision-making process.
Thus, late on Sunday evening Jealous set off with his team to Starvation Island. I had to make another trip to Harare and took the opportunity to again visit the island, going across by boat from Kariba, thanking the sponsors who had purchased the boat for us, all the way. The water level was higher still and left absolutely no doubt that we were doing the right thing. We witnessed the dogs’ unsuccessful attempt at hunting an impala. Mashambo led the way but even he could not prevent the impala from jumping into the lake. It escaped the dogs but its fate was sealed as 2 huge crocs immediately converged on it. Even our presence in the boat did not deter them as the impala was pulled beneath the water, to disappear before our eyes with little more than a ripple. One of the crocs moved towards the dogs, which were “waiting” for their meal on the shoreline. They showed a seemingly morbid fascination with the croc and I had visions of one of them being taken before my eyes. It was too much. I chased the croc away with the boat and them persuaded the dogs to move away from the shoreline.
Jealous arrived on the Monday afternoon with his team. It had taken him over
twelve hours to drive the 400km. On Tuesday morning they linked up with the
National Parks Scouts from Tashinga and began the exhausting process of setting
up the capture nets. It took them all day in the
blistering heat. I arrived on Wednesday afternoon. It had taken me 9 hours
to drive the 400km. We discussed the capture process, so that everyone
understood his role, then set the bait and waited. Hungry as the dogs were, they
were also suspicious and approached the boma formed by the capture nets but
would not enter. A near full moon gave us enough light to see by, however we
waited in vain. Weary from the long drive and exhausting heat we slept, with
guards posted on the entrance to the boma, just in case. Soon after 5am the
following morning, the signal went up and the curtain was closed on the boma.
The dogs were inside. Our carefully, painstakingly, discussed capture was
forgotten, maybe because everyone had just woken up. Men and dogs were running
around everywhere. Mashambo, the fastest and smartest escaped under the nets in
a flash. Jealous grabbed Njiva and I grabbed Slima. The remaining male, Lobels
then escaped as well. I immobilized the two dogs we had, cursing all the
while, and they were carried down to the boat to be ferried over to the mainland
and our waiting trailer. The plan was to drive the dogs back to Hwange once we
had them. For this we would use our big trailer that had been prepared with a
10cm deep layer of sand and then a 2 metre thick layer of grass. The dogs would
need all the cushioning we could give them for the bumpy ride “home”.
With the 2 captured dogs safely inside the trailer and 2 guards placed in
attendance, I went back to the island and talked with the “capture” team.
“What happened to our plan”? I asked. Embarrassed faces or blank stares greeted
me.
“We will do better next time”. Said one of the guys.
I pointed out that they had done well but that we now had a big problem to catch the remaining 2 dogs’ as they would not come into the nets again. Ever practical and determined as they are, Jealous and Xmas took over and instructed the team to rebuilt the capture boma by setting all the nets up again in a slightly different place. Not convinced but not wishing to dampen their enthusiasm, I went to check on the 2 captured dogs’; it also gave me time to think about how we would now catch Mashambo and Lobels. After checking on the 2 captured dogs I got back to the Island and found the team setting nets, though Jealous and Xmas were missing. They had gone to find the dogs. Taking meat with them, Xmas was hoping to entice them back to the nets using the meat to make the dogs follow him, as he has done many times at the rehab. Proud of his efforts, I waited, giving more instruction on setting the nets. Xmas and Jealous returned and told me that I should try and dart the 2 dogs. Stating that they were coming close enough for this but not actually following them back to the nets. I got my darting rifle and we went to find the dogs again. We soon found them and indeed they came close. A game commenced with Xmas enticing the dogs ever closer, while I shuffled around looking for an angle to dart them. I wanted Mashambo first, so ignored Lobels. I took the shot and the dart bounced of an unseen twig into Mashmbos’ side. He jumped away and we waited with baited breath to see if the dart had delivered the immobilizing drugs. It was soon obvious that I had failed. I recovered the dart and discovered that it was still full. It had lost its pressure but not injected the drugs, it must have hit Mashambo side on, so I was at least happy that he had not been hurt in anyway. Cursing again, I showed Xmas and Jealous and commented that I had now made it even harder for us, as Mashambo would now keep his distance. We trudged wearily back to our base camp and rested through the heat of the day. We would tray again later.
The late afternoon brings a little relief from the blistering heat. Xmas, Jealous and I again went to the dogs, while the rest of the team waited by the nets. The game commenced again with Xmas bringing the dogs’ close, especially Lobels, but Mashambo kept his distance and also seemed aware that if he faced me or hid behind a tree, he was safe from the darts. We hung the meat in a tree and backed away, letting Mashambo come in and actually take a kg or so of meat. He ran away and ate it quickly. Lobels was still around but again I ignored him. I wanted Mashambo first. As I hoped, Mashambo came back for more meat. He glanced at me and presented his side as he tried to get at the meat in the tree. It was all I needed and the dart hit its target. I beckoned Xmas and Jealous to join me and with a grin from ear to ear told them that we had won. We carried our prize down to the boat and took Mashambo across to the trailer. Lobels had run away and by the time we got back it was too dark to dart him. Though we waited all night, he would not come into the nets, however it was an easy task to dart him the next morning. It was Friday now and we had all the dogs in the trailer and headed back to Hwange.
It took me 5 hours to drive the fist 90km. The always terrible road had not improved with age and late rains completed the job of turning it into no more that a rutted, pot hold, rocky trail. To call it a road is an insult to roads !! The dogs safety and comfort was the priority and after another 17 hours drive we arrived safely in Hwange. Very, very tired. The dogs had eaten the food we placed in the trailer for them and so indicated that the journey had not been too stressful for them. They settled in well at the rehab. Mashambo kept his distance, probably the least impressed with being back in our enclosures. Our task now is to find a couple of dogs to get the “pack” back up to 6 before releasing them into Hwange National Park. Ideally we would get two females, but the main thing is to have a pack of 6, which is a viable pack size.
Peter Blinston
She hadn’t moved for over an hour. The white tip of her tail shone in the cold July air, but she did not move. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, deliberately, as I turned to Jealous at my side. It was he of course who had spotted her. His astonishing eyesight, honed to an unbelievable level through years in the bush, had spotted the white speck of fur that I had been staring at through my expensive binoculars for over an hour now, my own vision pathetically inadequate compared to his. “We will have to catch the pups”, I said. He nodded in agreement. The alpha female of our Robins pack had been killed by lions, two other adults were missing presumed dead and two out of the remaining five adults were injured. Many scientists, eminent or otherwise would disagree with such intervention as this was a natural occurrence, but I am not a scientist and the emotions felt at such a time are real and raw. The dogs are endangered because of man, whose actions still threaten their very existence on the planet. Any chance to redress the balance, however small, is one I will take.
The day before, we had rushed to the site, excited by the news of a den, clearly visible from the road. When we arrived we talked with the National Parks Scout who was stationed near by and he old us that lions had been “disturbing” the dogs. With our excitement now replaced with concern, we drove to the den and saw the results of the lions work. Jealous and I discussed how we would catch the pups and decided that we needed a cage as digging them out of the den would be very difficult given the terrain, I also decided that I should get a permit from the National Parks Senior Ecologist, before we undertook the task. It was hard to leave the den site and the pups but we had no choice, we could only hope that the remaining adults would care well enough for the pups until we were able to return.
Back in our own immediate area the dog news was giving us enough excitement, though as always it seems that the obstacles stacked up against the dogs are never ending. We have a small pack of three or four adults in the vicinity. We are quite sure that they have a den but our efforts to find it are frustrated by the road network. We are extremely concerned for this pack as the area is full of lions. “Full” is maybe an exaggeration, but there are a lot of lions in the area and they are a real threat. We tried a calling exercise one morning in an attempt to attract the dogs so that I could dart and collar them, however it was the lions that responded to the call, coming in with murderous intent.
We have another “pack” of two, who also have a den amidst the lions of Kennedy Vlei and a pack of seven denned near Ngweshla, which is equally famous for its particular population of lions! Earlier in the month, Jealous and Ester had successfully darted and collared the female in a pack of five dogs that we had been seeing. This pack was moving through the same area as Vusiles pack and we were again concerned for their welfare, so we deployed our anti poaching units in a concerted effort to check for snares. The pack remained in the area for a while and then we lost track of them and began to fear that the collar had failed. We received one sighting of them crossing the Bulawayo to Victoria Falls road, heading into communal land. An area that has little if any wildlife, so again our concern grew that they were perhaps targeting domestic animals and we waited for the inevitable phone calls or complaints to come in. To our surprise no complaints came in and the dogs seemed to have disappeared, only to reappear at Mondavu Dam, some 100km west of us! This was great news in the sense that she was still alive and that the collar was still working. The area is deep inside Hwange National Park and so it should be free of snares, however its is far from us and so we will not be able to keep a very close eye on things. As ever our excitement was dampened by the fact that the pack of five was now only a pack of three, leaving us with unanswered questions regarding the fate of the missing two.
Such is our life, working on the hard edge, so to speak, of conservation. We have witnessed many such scenarios over the years but it does not get any easier to bear. It’s the life we choose however and we certainly appreciate your support in helping us to do the work we do.
Peter Blinston
Needle sharp teeth bit down on my thumb, causing me to jerk my hand back
quickly. This was more of an instinctive reaction rather than caused by any real
pain and with Jealous behind me
laughing, I crawled forward on my stomach again, reaching further inside the
den.
We were back at the den site at Robins Camp. I was surprised but somewhat
relieved to find that the pups were still using the same den. As we drove
towards the site through a huge bush fire
I was concerned that this would prove to be another serious threat to the pups
survival unless they had been moved. Two weeks had passed since we had first
seen them, my return delayed mainly by a death in my family. A bush fire or
indeed the original incident with the lions would be more than enough of a
reason for the pups to have been moved. Luckily the fire had not actually
reached the den site, though the fact that the pups were still in the same den
served as another indication of the lack of any leadership within the pack. We
have experience of alpha females or males immediately moving the pups to a new
den following a serious incident with lions, most recently witnessed in 2006
with the Umtchibi pack.
We had borrowed a suitable cage trap from the Tikki Hywood Trust in Harare, however Jealous and Xmas felt that they could dig the pups out of the den given the relatively soft soil. This was a better option for us as we would be sure of catching all of the pups at one time, unlike with the cage trap, which had no such guarantees. After setting up a perimeter of capture nets, just in case the pups made a run for it, we started digging.
Management from the near by National Parks base accompanied us, willing to lend a hand if it were required. Quickly but carefully we dug away until we could see the pups. Lying on my stomach in the trench created, I crawled forward and reached inside for the nearest pup, which predictably sank its teeth into my thumb. I moved further forward and was able to gently but firmly get hold of one pup. After placing him in a transport crate I went back in for the next one and the next one until I had all five of them. It had only taken us a little over an hour from when we started digging to catching the last pup. Now we had a four-hour drive back to our rehabilitation facility and so arrived there just before nine in the evening.
Our concern now was helping the pups to settle down after what was obviously
an ordeal for them. Our resident female, Angela, had shown surprisingly maternal
instincts in the past, so we placed her in the enclosure next to the pups and
left them for the night. We gave the pups some food as well. In the morning it
was clear that the pups hadn’t eaten much, a sign of their stress, as they were
certainly hungry and have an astonishingly high metabolism at that age. We
placed fresh food in the enclosure for them and watched from a distance. Again
they did not eat much, but they were keen to join Angela and she seemed equally
enthusiastic to be with them. As ever we brain stormed. We did not want to
loose the pups now, having intervened, their lives were definitely in our hands.
Allowing Angela access to them had an element of risk to it, but we had to take
the chance. We need not have worried, she went to the pups and they ran to her.
Though still a bit nervous about their new surroundings, they took comfort from
her relaxed demeanour. Now we had to get her to feed them. In the past she has
shown a particularly selfish nature when feeding with other dogs, not wishing to
share at all. She was brilliant with the pups though. Eating and eating before
then regurgitating to them and they ate hungrily. We were so relieved. This
continued for a couple of days and we allowed them all access into an even
bigger enclosure during the days, which was more stimulating for them. To
complete the picture we needed to introduce Angela’s mate, Zenga. Again his
track record gave us cause for concern, as he had proven to be a problem when
introduced to other dogs, apart from Angela. We need not have worried, he was
seen trying to feed the pups through the fence and when we opened the gate to
let him in he fed them immediately. The pups had foster parents.
Our aim now is to provide them with as natural an up bringing as we can, preparing them for a release back into the wild next year.
Peter Blinston
On August 28th, we released seven dogs from our Rehabilitation Facility into Hwange National Park.
The relatively smooth operation was the culmination of many months of hard work, blood, sweat and tears. Four of the dogs were “survivors” from Starvation Island and these had been successfully introduced to the female, Vusile and the two males Sithule and Sibuyile, who hard walked into our facility in May. During the days that followed we kept a watchful eye on them, using traditional radio tracking and relying on the GPS collar that had been fitted to Sibuyile. Our concern began to grow as they moved out of Hwange National Park into the Gwayi. We have three anti poaching units strategically positioned in the Gwayi to combat the ever-present threat of poaching, however we were still worried.
On September 2nd sometime between 9pm and midnight, the packed, now named the Bambanani, which translates roughly as “a joint venture”, crossed the Bulawayo to Victoria Falls road approximately 500 metres east of the cattle grid that marks the western edge of the Gwayi Conservancy. The alpha male, Slima, previously translocated from South Africa to Zimbabwe to save him from possible euthanasia. A survivor of Starvation Island, still limping slightly from an old leg wound and carrying a wicked scar from the snare that nearly decapitated him, was hit by a speeding truck. In less than a blink of an eye his adventurous life was over. Jealous, Greg and our dear friend Evelyne found his shattered remains at 7am on September 3rd.
The rest of his pack moved over 25 km south west, perhaps driven by the shock
of the event, they then moved some 20km north east, back in the direction they
had come from. Jealous checked on them in the evening, picking up the signal
from the remaining six collars. All of Jealous’s skills and the wonders of
modern technology could not locate the dogs for two days. Then they “appeared”
on the map over 20km east, having presumably passed through one of the worst
areas in the Gwayi for poaching. Still we could not actually locate them in real
time; it was only the GPS collar that betrayed their location, giving us
historical data. On September 7th they had moved another 20km east, still deep
within the heart of the poachers world. On September the 8th they had moved over
30km west, back towards the
area where Slima had been run over. They carried on moving west and on September
13th they were seen by one of our anti poaching units. There were only four
dogs. Njiva and our (my) favourite dog Mashambo were missing. I followed up on
the report and eventually caught up with the pack on the morning of September
14th. Indeed there were only four of them. I stayed with them for a couple of
hours,
constantly checking for a signal from Njiva and Mashambo’s collars, but in vain.
As the temperature rose the four moved to a near by water hole and drank
thirstily before moving into the shade of the bush. I knew they would rest there
for the day now and so went into my office to check on the locations that had
been documented for the pack over the previous days.
Jealous was away in the far west of Hwange National Park, I was supposed to join him the next day but could not sit. I drove out alone to search for Njiva, but I confess that Mashambo was my highest priority. I knew the area well; we have spent a lifetime tracking dogs on those bush roads in the Gwayi. I dissected the area, pushing my landrover to every high point to maximise on the range of the collars. My desperation grew and a loss of concentration nearly sent me and my landrover tumbling over a ridge. The search was only surpassed in emotional strain by the search for Greg back in July 2003, after he had crashed his plane. I pulled over to the side of the road in my landrover and sat there. Alone in the dark. I wondered if this was it, was I going to crack? The intensity of the effort required to build PDC let alone keep it together suddenly seemed to be more than I could bear. I feared the worst. Was Mashambo really dead? The shocking waste of his life, his agonising death in a snare set by a ruthless poacher. He had become such a part of our lives since he first turned up at the Rehab as a ten-month-old pup in April 2007, looking for help, as the rest of his pack had been killed in snares. Just three years old now, he was reaching his prime and was magnificent. It was he, virtually on his own, who had kept all of the dogs alive on Starvation Island, as he was the only one who had really mastered the art of hunting. He was the new Eyespot, our hero. I know its wrong to speak with such affection about a wild animal, but what the hell.
I had to join Jealous the next day but before leaving I arranged for a helicopter to be at my disposal on our return. I hated the fact that I had to abandon my search, abandon Mashambo. Jealous and I arrived back at the office two days later on September 17th. The helicopter was not there, it was not even coming anymore. I slammed the phone down in frustration. I made another couple of calls but suddenly helicopters were hard to come by in Zim. Almost in desperation I phoned the Hwange Lion Project, as they have a small microlight. I say in desperation, because they have such a schedule of their own, that I thought it unlikely that they would have the time to fly for a missing dog. The excellent, University of Oxford’s Wildcru Project is headed by Dr Andy Loveridge and when he heard my sorry tale of woe he did not hesitate to offer his help. We arranged to fly on the morning of September 19th. That gave Jealous and I one and a half days to continue with the ground search. Tired and dusty we headed out into the Gwayi again and dissected the areas that I not previously covered. We both knew and talked about the fact that poachers would most likely destroy the collar of any dog they found in a snare if our anti poaching units or we did not get there first. If that happened, we would never find Mashambo or Njiva. Convinced they were both dead, I still wanted to find them. We returned home on the nights of the 17th and 18th, very frustrated and I for one, being very agitated. I didn’t sleep much on the night of the 18th and met Andy at the arranged time and place on the morning of the 19th. We flew out over Hwange National Park before turning north over the Gwayi. The stark difference between the densities of the bush outside of the park compared to inside, even in the dry season, was shocking to see from the air. We talked about this through our headsets as the tracking receiver scanned through the frequencies programmed into it. As we approached the park boundary the receiver skipped round to the frequency of Mashambo’s collar, 146.011. A familiar beep, beep reached our ears. I think my heart skipped a beat. Andy is experienced at aerial tracking and quickly closed in on the signal. Turning in ever decreasing circles until we were right over Mashambo. We could not see him in the thick bush and the signal from the collar told me that he was not moving.
The strong wind that is typical of this time of the year in Hwange had picked up, making it unsafe for us to keep flying. We took a fix on the position for Mashambo and headed back to the landing strip at Hwange Main Camp. After thanking Andy for his help I leapt into my landrover and headed off, calling Jealous on my radio to meet me en-route. I showed him the position we had marked on the map; it was over 70km away, deep into the Gwayi. We drove as fast as we could to the area and homed in on the position, which fortunately, was only 600m from a bush track. As we approached the spot we checked for the signal from Njiva’s collar as well, 146.201. The familiar beep, beep reached our ears and a smile briefly lit up our faces. Both collars indicated that the dogs were together but not moving and the worried furrow returned to my brow.
I stopped the car and we scrambled out, carrying darting equipment, water and
blankets with us. Everything we would need to deal with them if they were caught
in snares and still alive. The signal from their collars still told us that they
were not moving. We looked about us and saw plenty of evidence of buffalo in the
area. The bush was thick and I commented that I should have brought my gun with
me. Jealous shrugged his shoulders and said that we would not be able to carry
that and the darting equipment as well, so we just walked in. We have
developed quite a skill at tracking radio collared dogs and quickly closed in on
their position, fear full of what we might find, as the signal from their
collars still indicated that they were not moving. I stumbled over a log and
stopped. “I think that was a moving signal from
Njiva’s collar”. I said to Jealous. “Lets go” is all he said in return. We
moved forward and both dogs gave the familiar alarm “bark” before running a few
metres away. They were alive and seemingly well.
I was too stunned to smile. Though most people who know me say I don’t smile often anyway. We moved forward slowly and were able to catch a brief glimpse of both dogs. They looked a bit thin but otherwise healthy. A wave of relief swept over me. On the drive back we speculated over why we thought Mashambo and Njiva had split away from the rest of the pack. We came to the conclusion that it was food. Mashambo and Njiva were both submissive to the other dogs. If the pack of six were not catching anything big enough to feed them all then Mashambo and Njiva may well have missed out. Ironic as Mashambo is an excellent hunter and would be the most likely out of the pack to pull the prey down. Knowing he could easily provide for himself, we suspected that he chose to go it alone and took his pal Njiva with him. Two dogs hardly constitute a pack but at least they were alive. I got back to my office and sent all of our anti poaching units into the region to clear it of snares.
Peter Blinston
© Predator Conservation Trust.
