Dear Friends and Supporters,

I find myself writing to you under the most surreal and frankly frightening of situations I think we have collectively ever faced. The COVID-19 virus shows no boundaries and is affecting young and old, rich and poor, across all nations. You are amongst our closest of friends and I do hope you are keeping safe and taking all the steps needed to avoid, or at the very least reduce, the risk of catching the virus.

Here in Zimbabwe we have mercifully few (reported) cases so far, now one week into a nationwide lockdown. All schools and public places closed two weeks ago as the government does all it can to ensure the spread of the virus is at least slowed. It’s too early to say how this will impact the rural communities we deal with; it will be hard to enforce a lockdown in such communities, so building awareness is essential given access to appropriate healthcare in these communities is even more limited.

This is obviously impacting PDC at an individual and organisational level. Two weeks ago we also implemented social distancing and the liberal use of handwashing/disinfecting in the workplace. Thankfully no staff have reported any symptoms at this time. I for one am stuck in Harare. Since getting back from my trip to the USA on March 15th I have been in an effective 21-day self-imposed quarantine from the outside world. I am fit and well and have no symptoms. I will be back in Hwange as soon as I am allowed to travel.

We also began cutting back on PDC operations two weeks ago, specifically the Children's Bush Camp and Community Outreach programs. With the schools being on their mid-term break of five weeks, this is a quiet period for us anyway. However. The five dogs in our rehab and the Mpindo pack in the holding boma in Mana Pools are of course being cared for 24/7 as normal.

Anti-poaching is our front line of protection for the dogs and we are maintaining that presence as a vital programme. As the situation worsens, we anticipate the need for the APU services will be greater than ever. We are offering these staff additional pay to motivate them further to stay at work, rather than be with their families, at a time when we need them.

We will review our overall situation at the end of April. Even if the schools open here in Zimbabwe, our Bush Camps place children and staff in a highly unusual (for Zimbabwe) situation, with three children sharing a room and teachers sharing rooms as well. Thus I feel the risk is unacceptable and without a dramatic turn-around in the spread and handling of the virus, I suspect we will not re-open the Bush Camp in 2020. For the same reason, we will also maintain a much-reduced engagement with communities and our Conservation Clubs, which typically lead to large meetings and or events that bring significant numbers of people together. We will continue to play our part in supporting the local clinics, which play a vital role in disseminating information as much as anything else. We are currently looking into how we can provide PPE items for these clinics and ventilators for our nearest hospital.

We are also very aware of the impact this global health and economic situation could have on our funding and have begun looking at ways to trim operational costs. In addition to reducing program expenses, we have begun reductions in areas such as vehicle usage and suspended capital projects to limit our operational costs over the next 12 months or more. Your support over the years has been so instrumental in ensuring the success of PDC, and right now it is of course even more critical for us to have general funding that we can allocate to areas as the needs arise.

Cuts to our staff and salaries are the last thing we will consider. We employ 67 people, all from the local communities and it's unthinkable that we would add to their struggles by reducing staff numbers or salaries. Indeed we will be paying the artisans that make the snare wire crafts a typical monthly amount though they are at home and not making any crafts at the moment.

Managing the situation when the lockdown is over also presents challenges for us with staff returning from various locations, but we will continue with the social distancing and sanitising to ensure we are doing all we can to keep everyone safe. Our vital partnership to conserve the dogs must continue despite the difficult and challenging times all are experiencing.

My thanks again for your enduring support. Friends like you have sustained us over the years and allowed Painted Dogs to thrive. Your gifts are now more important than ever. If you could consider an additional gift this year, or accelerate your giving, we would be most grateful. I will communicate further as time goes by and meanwhile hope that you stay safe and well.

Peter Blinston

Executive Director

Painted Dog Conservation