Painted Dog Conservation - Oct 2018 View this email in your browser We recently undertook another domestic dog vaccination campaign in the surrounding villages in an effort to prevent the spread of rabies.



The Destiny pack have struggled to raise their pups this year, seemingly hunted down by lions on more than one occasion. This tragedy is somewhat mitigated by the success of the Luckodet pack and the emergence of new packs in Hwange and Mana Pools.



Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog's Life is launched. part of a campaign to raise much needed publicity for our beloved dog's and the work we do to conserve them.



Our Conservation Clubs continue to engage the local communities at all levels and ages, building on the foundations established by our world-renown Children’s Bush Camp.



Finally, we are delighted to announce that Maria Njamba has been recognized by both The Disney Conservation Hero Award and the Houston Zoo Wildlife Warrior Award.

DONATE NOW ! Domestic Dog Vaccinations We have been vaccinating domestic dogs against rabies since 2010 in conjunction with Dr. Dube, our Local Government Veterinary Officer, and Wildlife Vets International. Our aim is to prevent the spread of this deadly disease into the wildlife populations, obviously with the painted dogs’ welfare being the highest priority. However, the programme also aims to prevent the spread of rabies into the villages, with the equally obvious threat this deadly disease carries to human health and well-being. As you know, we suffered the loss of the Mabuyamabhema pack in December 2017, the entire pack taken by rabies. This prompted us to undertake an extensive survey of the domestic dog population in the surrounding villages in order to get a better understanding of the situation and to tailor our vaccination programme accordingly.



Armed with the data gathered from this survey, we formed three vaccination teams with ten people, three vehicles, and a lot of determination. We were pleased to have visiting vets, Dr. Barbara Ferreira from the University of Porto and Dr. Thierry Petit from Zoo La Palmyre, lending their expertise to the situation. Good friends Brandon Davis and Nicole Hill, from Disney's Imperilled Species Program, also provided very practical support and great enthusiasm. Over the course of nine exhausting days we vaccinated more than 1,700 domestic dogs, which should provide the buffer of protection we are looking for, but we are not relaxing for one minute and will conduct another vaccination campaign in 2019 if we can secure sufficient funds. Dr. Ferreira is also aiming to undertake a doctoral study on the diseases prevalent in the domestic dog populations and their subsequent path of transmission into wildlife populations. Destiny Pack losses are hard to take The Destiny Pack has brought both hope and heartache this year. The alpha female of the Destiny Pack is Lucy who gave birth to ten adorable pups, her first litter. We kept a close eye on them because their den was situated in an area posing a potential threat from lions. During the denning period, the alpha male, Jambo, “went missing” never to be seen again. This particular mystery was compounded by the failure of his extremely expensive GPS collar that we had purchased from Sirtrack and fitted only two months prior. We were happy when Lucy moved the den into thicker teak woodland shortly before resuming the pack’s nomadic life style. We know that this period of the pups’ lives is the most dangerous for them. Still small and impossibly vulnerable, they can and do fall prey to everything and anything from Marshal eagles, to leopards, hyenas, and lions! They cannot keep up when the adults hunt and thus are left to fend for themselves, often hidden in some thick bushes. Jealous and I have sat “guarding” pups in similar circumstances many times during the past 20 years. When necessary, we will abandon our own daily objectives to chase away baboons, lions, and hyena from the “abandoned” pups until the adults return from their hunt. In the last few months we watched helplessly as one after another of the pups vanished. Despite following the pack from a distance, on an almost daily basis, we never witnessed any incidents directly. Our partners at the excellent Hwange Lion Research Project kept us up to date on the lions’ movements. Nevertheless, we were alarmed to see that the lions had actually tracked the dogs for three days and at the end of this period another adult, Akila, was found dead and three more pups were missing. We frustratingly continued to record the “missing in action” until finally only one pup, named Solo, remained. On my way to the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in the USA I received the news that Solo, too, was now “missing” and an air steward on the plane wondered why I was crying. I’ve shed many such tears in the past 20 years. The day I give up this struggle will be the day when such reports no longer make me cry. I can’t imagine that that will ever happen. The painted dogs always seem to have the ability to bring you to your knees, then pick you up again.



As an example, the news of Solo was quickly followed by the report from Washington Moyo, our Field Researcher in the west of Hwange, of the relative success of our Luckodet pack, who currently have 13 pups and are 29 individuals in total (see photo above). Not to be outdone, Thomas Mutonhori, our Field Researcher based in Mana Pools, reported on the Nyakasanga pack and their seven pups plus the emergence of a new pack (yet to be named and identified) of five adults and seven pups. Hope also comes in the form of new packs forming in Hwange from dispersal groups the BaNyayi, Somalisa and Broken Rifle packs. A Wild Dog's Life A very successful crowd funding campaign launched the book I have co written and produced with Nick Dyer. We have both been busy promoting the book and it was a pleasure to meet so many of you recently at the Wildlife Conservation Network, Tusk Conservation Lecture and our own launch event at the printer Boy Opmeer in The Netherlands.



Responses to the book have been wonderful, typified here by a recipient;



"...All I can say is wow, wow & wow!! It only arrived yesterday so I haven't had nearly enough time to even scan it properly, leave alone digest every word & photo. But, suffice to say, it looks and is amazing. Thank you both (Peter & Nicholas) sooo much for all your continuing hard work, which I am delighted to support.

Receive more information: Yes, I would like to become “PART OF THE PACK” and receive more information on painted wolves!"



The book can be purchased here and also via Wildlife Conservation Network "Ahead of the Game" By Nicholas Dyer

Is a finalist in the Natural History Museum's

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition #WPY2018.

Out of 45,000 entries this stunning photograph is one of only 100 finalists. The award has given Nick the opportunity to further promote our beloved dogs and the work we do to conserve them.



Nick has written articles for National Geographic Magazine, illustrating the extraordinary hunting of the dogs in Mana Pools, which will also be featured in the BBC Dynasties documentary, The documentary itself will be broadcast in the UK and Europe in November and in the USA early next year.



Africa Geographic have also featured a story written by Nick that further promotes the dogs and our work at PDC.



This is an ongoing campaign as we aim to maximise on the publicity being generated for the dogs. Conservation Clubs The activities of the Clubs centre around three major competitions throughout the year:1) Wildlife Quiz in term one, 2) Nature Corners in term two, and 3) Performing Arts in term three. Additional activities include participation in celebratory days such as World Environment Day, the Zero Tolerance to Wildlife Crime programme, and the establishment of many Nutritional Garden projects in local communities. The more recent Emerging Wildlife Conservation Champions (EMCC) has grown out of these Clubs as well. These young adults invariably attended our Children’s Bush Camp and subsequently engaged in the Conservation Club activities. We continue to nurture their passion for conservation by involving them in the K9 roadshows and more recently in a workshop they coordinated at our Children’s Bush Camp.



The workshop targeted local leaders with a theme of “Zero Tolerance to Wildlife Crimes: Helping Organisations achieve their goals/missions in the communities.”



EMCC participant, Ayanda George Moyo, also a former Bush Camp graduate, inspired traditional leaders with his message. Drawing on his Bush Camp and Conservation Club experiences, he enlightened citizens on the plight of wildlife sharing their habitat. He challenged the leaders to work against wildlife crimes in their areas and to value the importance of wildlife to the local communities. Maria Njamba Many of you know Maria and are familiar with her captivating smile and her passion for PDC and the dogs. Her extraordinary dedication and commitment have now been recognised by our partners at Disney Conservation Fund and Houston Zoo who recently awarded her their Conservation Hero Award and Wildlife Warrior Award, respectively.



Needless to say, we are so proud of Maria who, of course, was quick to point out that while she is the actual recipient, she is receiving the awards on behalf of all of the dedicated staff at PDC. Who all continue to work tirelessly as we aim to create an environment where the painted dogs can thrive. We cannot do this work without your unwavering support and we will never get tired of thanking you.



As the year comes to a close we are already looking at the challenges that lie ahead and know that you will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in facing those challenges.



As if to underline this I am just getting reports in from the joint anti poaching patrols we have been conducting. During 34 patrols we recovered more than 1000 snares and arrested two poachers. Despite these efforts one of the Kali pack pups has been killed in a snare. It seems the pack was feeding on a bush buck that had been killed in the same snare line. Agonising. The brutal photographs can not be illustrated here. Share this newsletter or find us on Facebook! Share Tweet Forward Share +1 Read Later Facebook Website