THE fourteen wild dog pups that were rescued from a farm in the Mangetti area by the N/a'an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary are all in good health and doing extremely well.

The nine female and five male pups were about two weeks old when they were flown to Windhoek and taken to N/a'an ku se, about 45 km from the city.

Farmers just south of the Veterinary Cordon Fence who had lost some livestock to wild dogs found the dogs' den and dug it up, finding the litter of pups.

They contacted Robin Lines of the Namibia Nature Foundation, who has been doing research on wild dogs for the past eight years.

Lines contacted Rudi and Marlice van Vuuren of N/a'an ku se and the three flew up to Mangetti to rescue the pups.

These 14 pups will make a huge difference in the conservation of wild dogs in Namibia. They will be used for breeding purposes, with the addition of other bloodlines, so that new dog packs can be reintroduced into the wild and boost the endangered wild population.

The wild dog is the most endangered large mammal in Namibia and South Africa.

Its numbers have dwindled by 95 per cent across Africa and 98 per cent in Namibia.

There is only between one and two per cent of the original wild dog population left in Namibia.

This is mainly because there is a high level of conflict between the wild dog and the farming community in Namibia.