Tanzania & Botswana Wild Dogs

Wild dog populations are declining globally for a number of reasons. They have large territories which often range outside of protected areas, and they are killed by community members whose livestock (and livelihoods) they threaten. Other larger carnivores like lions and hyenas outcompete them. They have social hierarchies that dictate that only the alpha female in the pack is reproductively active, and they are vulnerable to diseases like rabies, canine distemper, and canine parvovirus. Currently, the global population left in the wild is estimated at 7,000 individuals. All in all, they are a species in need of help.

However, in Botswana, the Okavango is a stronghold for wild dogs, and Wild Entrust’s Bioboundary project is working to develop artificial scent marks that will deter wild dog packs and other predators from leaving protected areas by mimicking scent marks that demarcate home ranges and territories. They are also working on other BioBoundary repellents that keep other carnivores away from livestock and elephants away from farms. This BioBoundary project in Botswana is at the forefront of research into predator deterrent technology worldwide.  They have had some great successes and breakthroughs, particularly with leopards, but further research is needed. What is most exciting is that the cost of creating the repellents is not high, and they intend to come up with repellents that could be sold commercially at very low cost to livestock keepers and farmers. If they are successful, as RAS Partner Adam Hedges recently wrote in his article about this project, the implications for co-existence with and conservation of species like wild dogs are enormous.

Currently, they are looking for funding to sponsor John Neelo, a Botswanan field researcher who has been working on the project since 2019, to do his PhD to help them further their research to find and test scent marks which could create Wild Dog BioBoundaries. If you would like to help fund John and this project through our foundation, you can do so via the link below!

In Tanzania, the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem is another stronghold for wild dogs, and through our foundation, you have helped the Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute team to monitor and protect wild dog populations in the Serengeti National Park and its surrounding areas for the past 6 years.

Thanks to your support of this team’s work, over the past year, no retaliatory killings of wild dogs by community members were recorded in the project areas.

Also, this year, the research team and national park teams have managed to translocate 20 dogs from Mkomazi National Park’s breeding program into the Serengeti National Park (SNP) to help bolster the population. In addition, the team has translocated two males from the Loliondo Game Controlled Area (bordering the SNP) to Mkomazi to improve the genetic status of the captive breeding population there.

The partnership between the Serengeti Wild Dog Conservation Project and the Mkomazi breeding project (which is a really successful program set up by RAS Partner Peter Silvester’s great-late friend Tony Fitzjohn) is giving us all hope for the future of this incredibly special species.

Over this next year, the Serengeti Wild Dog Conservation Project’s objectives are to i) monitor the wild dog packs within the Serengeti Ecosystem using both GPS satellite collars and local community Wild Dog Guardians, ii) conduct health studies on wild dog populations in the Serengeti Ecosystem, iii) map current conflict areas within the project sites and adjacent locations utilized by dispersers, and iv) conduct community education and awareness meetings to prevent retaliatory killing of wild dog packs within the community land.

If you would like to support either of these projects to help the future of wild dogs, you can do so through our foundation.

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100% of your donation will go to the project you choose, and your donation to our registered 501(c)(3) organization is tax-deductible as provided for by law.