Tim Tear of Grumeti Reserves, Presidents’ Secretary, and Prof Markus Borner representing the University of Glasgow. At the latest release of wild dogs in the western Serengeti. Such dedication to conservation is reflected across many sectors in Tanzania, and is the essence of the nation’s commitment to the protection of global biodiversity. President Kikwete is a keen supporter of the Serengeti Painted Wolf Project, and has recognised the efforts of the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and the University of Glasgow to re-establish the wild dog population in the Serengeti. The President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, came specifically to join in the latest release of a wild dog pack in the western Serengeti this month.
ARE THERE WILD DOGS FREE
Even the open boundaries between the protected area and village lands have been free of conflicts between the newly settled wild dogs and domestic stock. Despite having become used to a diet of goat, the wild dogs now feed only on wildlife the abundant impala and young wildebeest calves found inside the park. The Serengeti is now celebrating five new litters of wild dogs born to the re-introduced packs. Serengeti wild dogs released in the Nyassirori Plains – one with a radio-tracking collar. All the packs, with one exception, have settled within the national park boundaries. Over the last few years a total of 66 wild dogs from six of the most severely threatened packs have been captured and moved from the Loliondo area to a holding pen in the western Serengeti, and then released into the park. The ‘Serengeti Painted Wolves Project’ was established by the Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute to conserve some of the endangered packs outside the protected area and move them back into the national park. A lack of wildlife in these pastoral areas was forcing the wild dogs to hunt livestock, which are critical for the livelihoods of the Maasai, and in retaliation, the wild dogs have been poisoned, killed and harassed. © Daniel Rosengrenīut the wild dog recovery also brought problems to local communities. The genetic studies also showed no evidence of inbreeding, despite the population having gone through a recent bottleneck. Genetic testing of these dogs by University of Glasgow researchers in collaboration with Tanzanian partners showed that these animals were in fact the same population as those that vanished from the park years before. A few elusive dogs were spotted to begin with, but by 2004 twenty-six individuals had established themselves in four packs, though they didn’t recolonise the park itself. Then in 2000, there was good news – wild dogs began re-appearing in the Maasai community lands in Loliondo, to the east of the Serengeti National Park. In a further blow to the future of the species, in 1992 the population in the Serengeti National Park vanished and was presumed extinct.
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Diseases such as rabies and canine distemper and encroachment of farming activity into their habitats have taken their toll and wild dogs now occupy just 7% of their former ranges. © Daniel Rosengrenīut the species has been in decline across its range. Native to the open plains of sub-Saharan Africa, they are formidable hunters that live in highly social packs dominated by a top (or ‘alpha’) mating pair.
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Written by: The Serengeti Painted Wolves ProjectĪfrican wild dogs (sometimes known as ‘painted dogs’ or ‘painted wolves’) are one of the most beautiful yet endangered carnivore species in Africa.