BuaNews (Tshwane)
Sharon Hammond
10 October 2007
Nelspruit — Visitors to the Kruger Park have been urged to report any African Wild Dogs they come across to help the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) to improve the management of these animals.
Between now and the end of November, one of the only viable wild dog populations left in the country can be spotted in the southern parts of the Kruger National Park.
Researchers at EWT are trying to determine how wild dogs are genetically related to each other so as to improve the management of their population.
"Visitors can support this research by reporting all wild dog sightings to the EWT's Wild Dog Hotline number. Sightings can be phoned in, SMS-ed to 076 725 5242.
"This will enable researchers to locate dog packs and obtain the required number of genetic samples to complete the analysis," said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the EWT, Yolan Friedmann.
The wild dog is South Africa's most endangered carnivore. There are fewer than 500 free-ranging wild dogs in the country, most of whom live in the Kruger Park and a handful are found at smaller provincial and private reserves.
"Kruger National Park contains the only viable and self-sustaining wild dog population in South Africa. They are therefore an important benchmark with which to compare other less viable and more intensively managed populations," explained Ms Friedmann.
She said however, the wild dogs at Kruger Park were notoriously difficult to locate.
"For this reason, visitors to the park are being asked to assist researchers by alerting them immediately to any wild dog packs seen in the southern section of the park.
"This will greatly improve the likelihood of obtaining the required number of genetic samples to complete the analysis," she said.
If there is a sighting, as much detail as possible needs to be given on the location, time and size of the group to help project researchers find the packs.
Patterns of relatedness among the southern Kruger wild dog population will be compared to those of smaller populations in reserves like the Pilanesberg National Park, Madikwe Game Reserve, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park and the De Beers Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve.
These reserves form part of South Africa's national wild dog metapopulation, a collection of small isolated populations collectively managed by the Wild Dog Advisory Group which currently contain nearly half of our country's free-ranging wild dogs.
The research project is being sponsored by Masslift and Colchester Zoo's Action for The Wild.
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