Namibia Nature Foundation: Wild Dog Project

Conservation of African wild dogs in Namibia

Background

The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) is both Africa's and Namibia's most endangered large mammal and one of the world's most endangered carnivores. Wild dogs represent a challenge for modern conservation because viable populations require vast areas to persist - yet Africa's rising human population offers, in most regions, smaller and smaller areas for wildlife conservation.

The African wild dog has declined dramatically over the past 30 years (see Fig 1). Formerly distributed throughout 39 sub-Saharan countries, today between 3,000-5,000 animals remain in perhaps 14 countries. Even though listed as Endangered (C1) by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) since 1977 and protected under law throughout most of their range the population continues to decline.

Figure 1. Past and present distribution of wild dogs. Light green areas show historical distribution; dark green areas show their approximate distribution. Although Namibia contains one of only 6-7 remaining viable populations, research and conservation efforts are deficient.

Wild dog ecology and conservation

African wild dogs are cursorial predators, chasing prey to exhaustion. They can occupy a range of habitats from montane forest to semi-desert and hence were formerly distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, absent only from the lowland forests of the Congo basin. Wild dogs are intensely social - communicating, hunting, breeding and even dispersing in close cooperation with other pack members. Hence packs, rather than individuals, are arguably the most appropriate measure by which to count wild dog populations.

Wild dogs' decline reflects the expansion of human populations; they have persisted only in areas where human densities are low and have even disappeared from all but the very largest protected areas. Wild dogs' vulnerability to local extinction appears to stem from their unusual ecology: they live at low population densities and each pack ranges very widely, even where prey is abundant. Low population densities mean that even wild dog populations occupying large areas comprise relatively few individuals, and large home ranges mean that even animals which spend much of their time in large protected areas are often exposed to - and threatened by - human activities on reserve borders. Hence, while the ultimate threat to wild dogs is destruction and fragmentation of habitat through human encroachment, this process generates proximate threats including deliberate killing by livestock and game farmers, accidental capture in snares, road accidents, and infectious diseases possibly transmitted from domestic dogs.

The highest priority for wild dog conservation, therefore, is to maintain and promote the contiguity of areas available to wildlife. In areas outside large parks protecting wild dogs requires that edge effects be mitigated by working with commercial farmers and communal conservancies to limit persecution, providing solutions for mitigating livestock-predator conflict and minimising contact between wild dogs and domestic dogs. Most of these measures will also benefit other wildlife. Only by evaluating the impact of threats is it possible to determine the management strategies most likely to halt or reverse wild dogs decline to extinction in the wild.

Wild dogs in Namibia

At the turn of the last century explorers, farmers and naturalists recorded reports of wild dogs from all regions, even into the Namib desert during periods of good rains when herds of game freely roamed into these areas in search of seasonal food. Wild dogs were seen in Karas and Hardap regions as late as the mid 1960s, the Khomas and Erongo regions in the late 60s, Kunene in the 70s and throughout the north central region into the 80s. Currently wild dogs can only be found at very low densities in the isolated NE of Namibia (Figure 2). It is estimated that 300-600 individuals remain where only 5% of their range is within protected areas. Wild dogs are considered to be Namibia's most endangered mammal species and continue to be widely persecuted in all but the most unpopulated areas.

Figure 2. Present distribution of wild dogs in Namibia. Yellow areas indicate the presence of vagrant packs or small dispersing groups representing the very extreme of a temporary range. But density / distribution data from much of the country is poor and extremely hard to collect. Wild dogs are rarely seen and pack numbers notoriously hard to accurately record.

Available data indicate that Namibian wild dogs can range over 3,000km² per pack - well in excess of other studies in protected areas across southern and eastern Africa averaging 700km² per pack. Thus a pack can be reported in 3 different places, often up to 50km apart on the same day, and incorrectly reported as 3 different packs, often of differing sizes, as numbers are notoriously difficult to count. Farmers insist that several packs are using the area when the situation is the reverse with one pack utilising many farms. Farmers often use these false densities as motivation to curb numbers.

The Namibian Wild Dog Project (WDP) has its origins in the communal cattle and small-stock farming Herero community in eastern Namibia. This area is part of the central Kalahari system, a semi-arid savanna with no perennial surface water. People and their livestock are restricted to the western areas with boreholes and pipelines, and to the few ephemeral drainage lines that flow eastwards towards the Okavango system in Botswana. Large areas in the east are uninhabited or with very low population density (mean <0.5km²). It is thought that this area supports a significant population of African wild dogs, but very little data is available as substantial research on wild dogs in this area, as with the rest of the country, is deficient

The project's aim is to better understand the interactions between wild dogs and humans and to find ways of mitigating the conflict while researching other threats to wild dog conservation in Namibia. The WDP looks to link social and ecological approaches to conservation, working closely with people - ultimately trying to find ways of optimising benefits from African wild dogs through tourism, while understanding their ecology and conservation threats within the actual and potential conflict zone.

Objectives:

Research human-wild dog conflict in farming communities;
Collect baseline data on other factors affecting wild dog conservation;
Develop & implement education / awareness projects reducing human-wild conflict;
Develop & implement incentive-driven initiatives (tourism) for wild dogs;
Develop a National Management Plan for Namibia's wild dog population.