News from the Field
Translocation Tales: The Carnivore Range Expansion Project
By Eugene Greyling, Carnivore Conservation Field Officer
Wild dogs relaxing after being released at Mpilo Game Reserve
The general aim of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Carnivore Range Expansion Project, operating within the Carnivore Conservation Programme, not only includes the conservation of current carnivore populations and the maintenance of genetic integrity in areas where a lack of sufficient ecological connectivity hinders natural dispersal, but also extends to the expansion of geographical range for focal species (with a primary focus on African wild dogs Lycaon pictus and cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus).
Restoring previously extirpated or locally extinct populations, thereby recovering lost range, and securing safe space across the African continent is thus an important priority for us.
“Translocation” refers to the action of purposefully taking an organism from a suitable habitat in one area to a suitable habitat in another area. This is done to encourage threatened species to repopulate in a new area to improve the conservation status of the species and restore the functioning of the ecosystem through population restoration.
Most recently, several translocations have been undertaken by our wild dog range expansion team to reintroduce wild dogs to additional safe spaces in South Africa.
For the first time, founder packs have been introduced into Mpilo Private Game Reserve and Nambiti Private Game Reserve, in collaboration with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Wildlife ACT. All introduced individuals have been fitted with tracking collars to enable daily monitoring of their movements, population and behavioural dynamics, and ecological influences and to help prevent human-wildlife conflict. The information gathered allows for informed decision-making – both at the reserve and the species level.
The pack at Mpilo PGR established well, birthing a litter of pups and curiously exploring their new environment, whilst the pack at Nambiti PGR is still adjusting and acclimatising to their new home in a boma before being released onto the reserve.
With less than 600 wild dogs found in South Africa, of only an estimated 6,600 that remain in the wild globally, every individual counts and we are immensely grateful for the commitment of these reserves to the conservation of the African Wild Dog.
Sometimes, we also need to get creative in the field, as was the case when we executed another successful wild dog translocation to Makalali Private Game Reserve in Limpopo recently.
Due to challenges faced with non-ideal weather conditions as temperatures plummeted to -3°C on the day of relocation, we opted to transport this small pack of four together in a single-compartment lion crate instead of the specially-designed wild dog crates we would generally use. By simulating a den-like environment within the crate, the wild dogs were able to keep each other warm and at rest, minimising stress throughout the journey.
If one thing is certain, it is that no day in the field is quite the same, and by being continuously challenged we continue to explore, innovate, learn, and adapt with every operation.
One of the collared female wild dogs released at Nambiti Game Reserve