Painted Dog Conservation - April 2019 View this email in your browser Hoo Calls from Painted Dog Conservation







Read about the new challenges facing the Mpindo pack and the vital work of our Anti Poaching units plus learn about the difference our Education and Community work makes. DONATE NOW ! Mpindo Reloaded Many of you will remember the story of the Mpindo pack from last year. The pack of two adults had chosen to den in the rural village of Mpindo, eventually giving birth to eight pups. When the community discovered the den, they contacted us and asked us to remove the painted dogs from the village. Contacting us, as opposed to directly harming the dogs, was a great sign of progress and to thank them we added the Mpindo Primary School into our Bush Camp Program. We relocated the adults and pups to our world class Rehabilitation Facility and kept them until the pups were old enough to be released in December 2018. The release was as smooth as it could be and the pack began the next chapter of their challenging life at Jambili Pan, deep inside Hwange National Park. Sadly, two pups were lost early on to predation, likely from lion or hyena. The pack continued to move through their new territory and we quietly hoped they would remain in the area. But things began to change. Two more pups were lost, and then, alpha male Jonathan’s collar indicated the pack were heading in a bee line back to the relative safety of Mphindo!! A lion free area. And very soon the phone was ringing again. “The dogs are back.” This time, however, the calls from Mpindo were merely to notify us that the dogs had returned rather than to request their removal. Why? Because after that first call, our team, headed by Jealous, were on the ground talking and meeting with the villagers every day and educating them and their children about painted dog survival.



As a result, this time the message was very clear: “You are helping us, you are helping our children, so we will help you. No one will harm the dogs.” That’s a success whichever way you measure it. An acknowledgement of 20 years of work, aimed not only at changing attitudes but also at changing behaviour to create an environment where painted dogs can thrive. However, there is always a however. The painted dogs don’t confine themselves to Mphindo Village. They cover more than 700 square kilometres of an area we barely touch with our education outreach programs. We simply do not have the resources to conduct education and development programs in this area, which is more than 100 kilometres from our headquarters. We talk continually about possible programs we could implement in the area, such as a developing a so called goat bank, that can compensate the villages for any losses, or helping with infrastructure development at the various schools or providing life giving water through drilling bore holes. All to ensure that the painted dogs are universally accepted. It’s a tough order, and as we work to figure out our response, we must again capture the pack and remove them from the area.



Such is life on the front line of conservation and we don’t yet have a solution. Late Rains relieve the poaching pressure I grew up in the U.K. and have thus seen more rain than I care to mention. And as much as I hate driving around Hwange in a Land Rover that seems to have more holes in the roof than I can count, I still celebrate the life-giving, lifesaving rain. The rain brings hope for many. Hope of a good harvest that will provide for a family, and hope that the relentless tide of poaching that threatens all wildlife in this area will perhaps be less relentless for a while. But this year started out dry. And each day without rain portended the onslaught of increased poaching activity. There are two reasons for this. First, the lack of rain means fewer crops which leads to a scarcity of food sources. Second, the animals are drawn to what I frequently call “killing zones”—waterholes pumped by safari operators to attract wildlife to their lodges for their guests’ viewing pleasure. The conscientious safari operators will employ anti-poaching units concurrent with such pumping, but more often than not they are remiss in protecting the limited—not limitless—resource they depend on for their livelihood.



As a result, we must be relentless and vigilant in deploying our teams daily into the areas we know the poachers target. Collecting 100, 200, 300 deadly snares. We arrest poachers, we set our K9 dogs on their trail, and we work with informants to bring them to justice. It is relentless, tough, and dangerous work. But when the rains come, the balance shifts in our favour—just a little—but enough. The poaching effort return diminishes because there is water everywhere for the animals to drink, the animals targeted are thus spread far and wide, and therefore the poacher can’t be so sure his snares will kill, so he doesn’t bother to set any.



So, while these late rains are not the best for farmers’ harvests, they do give the wildlife a chance to replenish and flourish. Having said that, I must also acknowledge that my heart breaks for the poor souls who suffered devastating loss from Cyclone Adai. Her physical impact was far from us but the emotional impact affects our nation as a whole. Education, Education, Education. Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” The Mpindo pack mentioned above will surely agree. So far this year we have hosted more than 250 children from nine local schools at our Iganyana Children’s Bush Camp. That brings our total to more than 13,000 since the program began in 2004. A life-changing experience for all of them. Disruptions to the local school calendar due to the well-publicized political demonstrations in Zimbabwe didn’t stop our program. Even though the local schools were closed, the children were ready and waiting to be picked up to attend our Bush Camp, as were their teachers and parents. No one misses a chance to come to the Bush Camp and, indeed, some have made a point of coming more than once! We certainly know of a couple cases where the children deliberately switched schools in order to attend the Bush Camp a second time. But our education work goes beyond just the Bush Camp. We engage more than 5,000 children of all ages through our Conservation Clubs at local schools. The students in these clubs undertake a variety of local and community activities that result in conservation becoming a part of their everyday lives. Most notable are the clubs’ participation in international events such as World Environment Day and national events such as the annual Wildlife and Environment Quiz. We would like to thank all of our friends and supporters who make the work we do possible. Not just because of your financial contributions but because you care. You work with us as an integral part of our team and we cannot succeed without you.

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