Archive for the ‘Painted Dog’ Category

Sep
05

Painted Dog update from Hwange National Park

Posted by in Africa,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Painted Dog,Peter's African Adventure '11

Conservation Director, Peter Riger is in Zimbabwe, working with Painted Dog Conservation and sends this news from the field.

We got bad news when we pulled into Painted Dog Conservation’s rehabilitation center on Thursday. The resident research pack (Kutanga)of dogs we had seen here on our last visit did not successfully den. Then, this week the alpha male was killed in a snare and a second animal was seriously injured. Staff at PDC were able to dart and treat this animal, cleaning a large  gash under its front leg almost up to the shoulder, apparently a snare had been wrapped around and digging into the skin. After treatment she was released to her pack of now three animals. Small packs such as this have a much more difficult time hunting and protecting themselves from other predators such as Lion and Hyena. PDC staff will continue to track and monitor this group.

By Peter Riger

 

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Sep
01

Can We Have your Ticks? By Peter Riger, Reporting from Zimbabwe

Posted by in Africa,community-based conservation,Painted Dog,Peter's African Adventure '11

Enjoy Conservation Director, Peter Riger’s, adventures in assisting Painted Dog Conservation with building water catchment systems and upgrading livestock parasite treatment for the rural communities around Hwange National park in Zimbabwe.

Saturday August 27th / Monday August 29th

Dete, Zimbabwe. No, I have not seen a Painted Dog since we arrived. Yes, we visited more cows to set up a time to collect some ticks so we can identify species and their associated problems. This herd today was interesting in that there were Oxpeckers on some of the cows and bulls which is something we have not seen in abundance on some of the domestic herds. This herd did not have something called Lumpy Skin which is a virus that can cause a number of serious issues including death. A few did seem to have something else we have seen here called Dermatophilosis which causes some hide damage and even mortality in young animals. It starts when a small wound is opened by a tick bite and the bacteria takes hold there. Again, proper management may alleviate some of these issues. Monday we will gather some ticks, visit the Chief in Mabale and then start on one of the projects.

 

Cattle treatment area

 

We also paid a visit to another cattle treatment tank that has not had running water for three years so they do what they can by bringing buckets of water up to the area but do not have the ability to clean the tanks. This community of Chezhou borders the park itself. These are all communities Painted Dog Conservation are already partnering with on children’s educational programming and community development.  Iganyana Arts and Crafts Centre whose products you can find in our zoo store resides in this area.

 

Is there any good news? On this same road in Chezhou we came across a park ranger today who had earlier confiscated 3 pairs of elephant tusks and a rifle as well as arrested one of the two people responsible for this. Later the next day the second person turned himself in. The idea that rangers are walking around armed looking for you tends to make people rethink their actions. Sadly, they may have been at the bottom of a chain of people and groups paid for this leading up to the people selling the product, as it is rarely just one or two poachers acting on their own. The park is very large and sometimes the amount of illegal snares put out overwhelm the resources of the agencies trying to stem the tide of poaching but they do have victories such as this. This shows the importance of supporting communities living so close to wildlife. Poaching for animal parts and the bushmeat trade is not only a African problem but occurs heavily in Asia as well as many other regions around the world.

By Peter Riger

Peter is still in Zimbabwe, so stay tuned for more!

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Aug
31

Painted dog reintroduction: good news from Zimbabwe

Posted by in Africa,community-based conservation,Endangered Species,Painted Dog

Dogs released in Vic Falls in April

Conservation Director, Peter Riger, assisted Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe with the reintroduction of 6 Painted dogs a few months ago.  He is back in Zimbabwe now, and checking up on the pack.  

The translocation of 6 dogs we were lucky enough to witness back in April is going very well. The dogs were released out of their soft holding pens in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and into Hwange National Park  in late July. Since then, they have been observed making 4 successful kills so far including two impala, a water buck and a kudu. This is the best news possible for a newly reintroduced group of dogs as it shows they have learned to hunt as a cohesive pack.

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Aug
29

The Director of Conservation’s adventures at Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe

Posted by in Africa,Carnivores,Endangered Species,Painted Dog,Peter's African Adventure '11

Conservation Director, Peter Riger, has returned to Zimbabwe to assist Painted Dog Conservation in helping the rural communities around Hwange National park with building water catchment systems and upgrading livestock parasite treatment.  Here is the first instalment of his adventures in Zimbabwe.

Thursday, August 25th.

It has been a typical two day journey back to Painted Dog Conservation near Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.  It has been nearly 4 months since we visited to start gathering ideas for community support programs here. We returned home in early May thinking we could initiate a livestock health program in the local village, and possibly secure a water source for the main health clinic as well. Friday we meet with the regional government veterinarian to outline some of the ideas.  We then go to town to look for supplies, so we can sketch out some ideas over the weekend .

Conservation Director, Peter Riger, and Agricultural Specialist, John Huston in Hwange National Park

When you return to work on a project, you have plenty of airplane time to think about what might and might not go as planned. By the time you finally reach your destination and get to talking with people you have not seen for many months, you tend to ignore what is going on around you. Hearing lions or jackals in the bushes while sitting outside before dinner seems perfectly normal. In Houston, we would run inside as fast as we can. Elephants trumpeting 20-30yards away? No one missed a beat in the conversation. “Oh look, there’s a leopard”. Now that got our attention. Of course we all ran towards the area to try and get a better look as a tail disappeared into the brush just 20 feet away from one of the volunteer houses. We of course stayed by the back door. We have not managed to keep all our toes and fingers intact working around animals by not being cautious. It is just amazing for all of us to be able to see a leopard just passing by. 10 minutes later of course we were rummaging around on the path looking for paw prints, but surely he had moved on by then??? Of course the Hyena are now making a racket and my room is filled with the sounds of squeaking bats in the roof. At least it is only 80 degrees here today.

Stay tuned for more exciting conservation adventures in Zimbabwe.

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Aug
16

Painted Dog Sightings in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

Posted by in Africa,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Painted Dog

 

Our friends at Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe just sent this update on the Painted dog population in Hwange National Park.

Extract From The Hwange National Park Research Report

Sightings of painted dogs in and around Hwange National Park for June/July 2011:

1. Total in Gwayi /HSL area: 8 Dogs, Pack Names – Kanondo and Kutanga
2. Total Sinamatella: 18 adults and yearlings, Pack Names – Gobo springs, Masuma and Lukosi River
3. Total Main Camp : 18 adults and yearlings, Pack Names – Sibindimalisa, Bomani, Sisele and Guvalala East
4. Total Known 44 adults and yearlings

Enjoy this clip of tracking dogs with Painted Dog Conservation in Hwange National Park.

 

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Jul
19

Field update for May and June 2007 from Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe

Posted by in Africa,Carnivores,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Field Research,Painted Dog

Painted Dog Conservation (PDC) is one of our conservation program partners.  They hire over 60 local people from the rural
areas to run programs to promote the protection of the dogs. PDC is making a substantial, lasting contribution to Painted Dogs, nature conservation and, very importantly, to the lives of the local people.  Below is an update on the work they are doing with the dogs right now!

May and June are possibly the two months of the year we look forward to the most. It’s denning season, and with that come the hopes and expectations of new life. Last year we were saddened by and disappointed for the Kutanga pack when the alpha female lost her pups. We had been following the pack daily throughout her pregnancy when she disappeared.  The rest of the pack hunted without her and demonstrated typical denning season behavior by heading straight back to the den after a successful hunt. We located the den site by tracking her collar with the help of the Hwange Lion Project plane. A few days later she was hunting with the pack and showed no signs of suckling pups or any interest in getting back to the den site. We were utterly dismayed. Greg, Jealous and Ester walked into the den site and confirmed that the dogs had indeed denned there but there was no sign of life.  That was 2010.

We did not expect a repeat of this in 2011, however, exactly the same scenario played out. The alpha female, named Ester, was clearly pregnant and we were anticipating a new litter. However we were soon alarmed when she disappeared from the pack again, With the help of the Lion Project plane, we located her, some 15km west of our office, on the outskirts of the small town of Dete.  Not a great place to den! Our anti-poaching unit were mobilized into the area to sweep for snares and maintain a protective presence. We watched with great concern. I had seen her myself a few days earlier and though she was pregnant, I didn’t think she was close to giving birth. It was too early.  Surely she had another two if not three weeks before she reached full term?  A couple of days later she was back with the rest of her pack and again showed no sign of suckling or interest in the den site. Greg walked in and confirmed that a den did exist but there was no sign of life. 

It took us a while to internalize this devastating news. We had never experienced anything like this before and speculated over the possible reasons. Greg has established a “body index scoring” protocol, which allows him to measure the physical condition of any individual dog from photographs. We have our well-fed Ukusutha pack as the model of what a dog should look like.  The photographs of Ester showed that she was not in great physical shape and we speculated that she was not in good enough condition to carry the pregnancy through to full term. We have also consulted with veterinarians who have suggested that Ester may have a bacterial infection in her uterus. If this is the case then we have a plan for next year, if she manages to become pregnant again, which will entail treating her with specific anti biotics. 

  

The news on the other four packs in the area is encouraging, and while we don’t know the exact location of their dens, sightings have provided us with enough information to be sure of the approximate location of the dens. So all in all it is an encouraging sign and we are eagerly awaiting sight of the pups themselves.  Mana Pools, our new study region in the north of Zimbabwe, is providing equal excitement and with the help of Professional Guide, Nick Murray, we have the location of two dens. One belongs to alpha female Tait, of the Vundu Pack. Happily her GPS collar, which was fitted in November 2010, is still providing excellent information about her movements and made locating her den quite straightforward. Nick confirmed this on the ground.

The second pack, now named the Long Pool Pack, are also denned. This is a smaller pack of nine dogs and yet to be collared. I will however be traveling up to Mana Pools at the beginning of July with the intention of collaring this pack as well.

By Peter Blinston, PDC project manager

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Jun
21

Updates on Painted Dog Conservation employees Xmas and Dought

Posted by in Africa,Carnivores,community-based conservation,Doubt and Xmas,Endangered Species,Painted Dog

I thought I would give you a bit of an update on Xmas Mpofu and Dought Nkomo from Painted Dog Conservation since their visit to the Zoo in March.   They still talk about their Zoo visit as being the highlight of their lives.  They also always mention how much they miss everyone here.

Dought with the facilities staff

Dought has been very busy since he has been back.  Right after he got home, he had to pack up and go to the pre-release site for the next Painted dog release in Victoria Falls.  He secured and built up fences around the release area.  He then returned to the project to work on more maintenance problems.  He has been in touch with the facilities team to help him with a cooling room they use for the dog’s diets.  Brandon in the facilities department is assisting him by email.  Brandon taught Dought how to fix a similar system here at the Zoo, and Dought is very happy that all of the same principles apply.   

Kyle and Dought

Here is a message Dought sent yesterday. “The Bush camp is going well,we did a training workshop for guides to become Bush camp teachers, and now I am training them with the kids.  They are observing me and then I assess them before they can take a class on their own. I used the teaching methods I got when I was at the Zoo, when I did their training. The guides did like the material, especially the “how we learn” content that Anita in the education department taught me.”

Xmas

Xmas reintroduced 6 dogs into the wild when he got back.  He has been spending a lot of his time monitoring the dogs at the release site in Victoria Falls.  He continues to be grateful for his experience with the clinic and carnivore staff.  Because of his experience he has recognized the importance of having more knowledge about the veterinary care of the dogs.  He is now looking at doing a correspondence veterinarian technician program.

Zoo director, Rick Barongi awarding Xmas and Dought certificates for completing several courses here at the Zoo in March.

Xmas and Dought did a presentation on their experience at the Houston Zoo to the other 60 Painted dog conservation Zimbabwean staff when they got back.  The staff are all excited to feel a part of the Houston Zoo family! 

Here is nice a conservation story from Dought’s message he sent Yesterday.  “Last week we received a call from a school that is about 30 km from Painted Dog Conservation for a dog sighting in the village and Jealous went to investigate.  He must have had 2 minds because usually people mistaken them for jackals and hyenas or he knew it could be dogs because the kids have been to the Bush camp and they know them.  I did not have a chance to talk to him.  He got there and did not see them but searched till late.   The next morning, while he was at the office, another call came in with the same sighting, and this time they had the dog with them.  The dog had a snare and was weak so it was quickly brought to the rehab where efforts to save it were tried but it was too late.  All the same, the community was applauded for the quick reaction and also for the signs in change of attitude towards the painted dogs.  The sad thing is that there are some who still set snares,well we will say its one or two.”

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Apr
29

Visiting villages to see livestock practices -By Peter Riger, reporting from Zimbabwe

Posted by in Africa,Carnivores,community-based conservation,Endangered Species,Painted Dog,Peter's African Adventure '11

Peter Riger, the Houston Zoo’s Director of Conservation, is reporting on his trip to African to visit some of our wildlife conservation partners.  He hopes to identify new ways to provide support for our African projects.  If you missed the first few posts in this new series you can find it if you just scroll down or CLICK HERE. 

Tuesday April 26th
Today we decided we would start visiting some of the local livestock owners in the local villages with Painted Dog Conservation’s community officer Dominic who happens to speak 7 or 8 local languages fluently. What brought us to Zimbabwe was to further devlop PDC’s community outreach programs. They are very involved in local education programs both at local schools and their Centre’s Bush Camp as well as with community gardens and the art centre. Many people here rely on cows, chickens, goats and crops such as sorghum, corn or small vegetables to feed their families and for income. In order for the community to support a local conservation programs ideas in protecting wildlife, those programs must be mutually beneficial to the community.  The two most basic needs on any society are simply food and health security for their families and education for their children. By providing basic assistance in these areas, we strengthen the bonds with local villages and strengthen our ability to protect wildlife and habitat in many regions.

Our first visit of the day was to Chief  who oversees all the social and political matters of many villages in this region. The Chief acts as an administrator in many cases and rules on decisions for the communities as well as on conflicts. It is common to get advice from the Chief in these matters and his support for any work in the community. He also happened to have cows and goats so this was a good place to start finding out about the problems the local villagers may be having with their livestock. We made a number of other stops today including the district veterinarian, a few more homesteads with cattle, a butcher shop, Lupeto School and community garden which works closely with PDC and finally , a trip to Dete to visit Iganyana Arts and Craft Centre before heading home for the evening.

Sitting outside eating dinner is always interesting here. Last night we heard a lion, jackal, and hyaena fairly close to where we are staying and tonight an elephant was wandering by somewhere in the distance.

By Peter Riger

Stay tuned for more exciting wildlife conservation updates from Zimbabwe.

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Apr
28

Waterhole project in Zimbabwe -By Peter Riger reporting from Zimbabwe

Posted by in Africa,Carnivores,Endangered Species,Field Research,Painted Dog,Peter's African Adventure '11

The Houston Zoo’s Director of conservation, Peter Riger is visiting our wildlife conservation partners Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe.  He hopes to identify more ways the Houston Zoo can provide support to this community based conservation project.  Click here or scroll down to read his previous post.

Monday, April 25th we headed into Hwange National Park to get a better look at the wildlife and some issues revolving around the development of large numbers man-made waterholes which the park pumps water up into (using pumps run by diesel fuel) from the water table 100 feet below the surface. The idea stemmed from the thought that this would make wildlife more accessible to tourists visiting the park but in reality, it has changed the diversity of species visiting the waterholes. For example, elephants dominate the waterholes and most other animals are either chased from or are forced to hang around the edge of the brush waiting for elephants to leave. This is good for elephants but not favorable for other species who have to move more often to find these resources. The constant access to water may have also increased the elephant population unnaturally to where there is an overabundance in the park itself. At one waterholes today we observed 12 female elephants with 9 calves which would seem a highly disproportionate ratio for a herd of elephants.

We set up a time lapse camera at one waterhole to start looking at abundance and diversity of species using the space and hopefully expand to a number of other locations this year.

Other species in the park we came across today included Lesser Kudu, Cheetah, Steenbuck, Impala, hornbills, Crowned Crane, Marabou Stork, Duiker, Slender Mongoose, Giraffe, Zebra, Jackal, Baboon and Lion as well as a few Baobob Trees.

By Peter Riger

Stay tuned for more wildlife conservation reports from Peter Riger in Zimbabwe.

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Apr
27

A Visit with Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe

Posted by in Africa,Carnivores,community-based conservation,Conservation,Endangered Species,Field Research,Painted Dog,Peter's African Adventure '11

The Houston Zoo’s Director of Conservation, Peter Riger,  is on a journey through Africa to visit some of the wildlife conservation projects we support there.   

We arrived at the Painted Dog Conservation Centre on the edge of Hwange National Park around midday on Saturday. Tourism to Hwange National Park is starting to puck up and PDC sits right on the main road making it very accessible. They are the only place in the region with an education and interpretive center and groups can take a walking tour of the facility and catch a glimpse of the rescued painted dogs currently going through rehabilitation or socialization into a lack. There are currently 9 Painted Dogs at the center with 6 getting ready for a reintroduction back into the NW region of Zimbabwe in coming weeks.

The center also sells the famous Snare Wire Art which is produced about 25km away in the snail town of Dete by Iganyana Arts and Craft Centre. Illegal snares, basically any wire poachers can find, are collected by PDC’s Anti-Poaching unit by the thousands every year and turned over to the center for use in crafts. Selling the product puts funds in the pockets of local villagers who may typically get by on subsistence farming. This also removes the snare wires from future use by poachers. The Houston Zoo and a small handful of other zoos sell this product in their gift shops.

By Peter Riger

Stay tuned for more from Peter at Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe.

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