Chapter 9
Country-by-country Action Plans for Wild Dog Conservation

Ensure links with wildlife areas in eastern Namibia and western Zimbabwe - consider establishing a formal cross-border reserve complex in this area.

Maintain the areas between the Moremi Wildlife Reserve and Chobe and Nxai Pan National Parks as wildlife lands, encouraging the contiguity of areas available to wild dogs in northern Botswana.

Establish collaborative photographic surveys across Northern Botswana, eastern Namibia and western Zimbabwe to assess the contiguity of the populations.

Assess the status of wild dogs in the Central Kalahari and Khutse Game Reserves and, depending upon the results, establish a predator management programme to mitigate persecution of wild dogs in this area.

Develop a public education programme to raise the profile of wild dogs in Botswana.

Monitor disease in wild dogs and other carnivores in Northern Botswana - several packs have been lost to disease in recent years.

Uncertain but extremely valuable - Cameroun probably contains one of the largest, if not the largest, wild dog population in central Africa.

Confirm the status of the populations in and around Faro, Bénoué and Bouba-Ndija National Parks.

Maximize contiguity of Faro and Bénoué National Parks by encouraging land use favouring wildlife in the intervening lands.

Ban hunting of wild dogs.

Develop local education programmes to raise the profile of this valuable population.

Facilitate studies to assess the genetic distinctiveness of Central African wild dogs.

Uncertain - but the population would be extremely valuable if still present.

Confirm the status of the populations in Manovo-Gounda-St Floris and Bamingui-Bangoran National Parks.

Extinct

Extinct

Uncertain but very valuable Ethiopia probably contains the largest wild dog population in North-East Africa.

Assess the status of the populations in Omo and Mago National Parks, and in Gambela National Park.

Survey the area between Ganale and Wabe Shabelle rivers where local people report wild dogs' presence.

Consider establishing predator management programmes in the environs of the Omo-Mago National Park complex, working with local pastoralists to try to mitigate persecution of wild dogs.

Establish public education programmes to raise the profile of wild dogs in Ethiopia.

Possibly extinct

Confirm the status of wild dog populations in the Bui, Digya and proposed Kyabobo Range National Parks.

Very vulnerable, but extremely valuable - Guinea's wild dog population is contiguous with the one in Sénégal, and together they represent the only potentially viable population in West Africa.

The linking of Badiar National Park with Niokolo-Koba National Park in Sénégal will have substantial benefits for Guinea's few remaining wild dogs. If possible, the area available to wild dogs should be expanded still further by encouraging land use favourable to wildlife in the areas bordering Badiar.

Set up a predator management programme in the areas surrounding Badiar. Local conservation authorities should work with livestock farmers to protect wild dogs from persecution. It might also be appropriate to control domestic dog numbers and movements in these border areas.

Establish a programme of local education to raise the profile of wild dogs in northern Guinea.

Still present but apparently declining. There are no protected areas or other lands which support large populations. Conserving wild dogs in Kenya presents a tremendous challenge and opportunity. If appropriate actions are taken, Kenya could serve as a model for management in other increasingly fragmented African landscapes.

Assess wild dogs' status in Kenya. Kenya supports sufficient number of tourists, amateur naturalists and professional biologists to establish a nationwide photographic survey. This would help to assess the degree to which animals move within and between wildlife areas. Developing a systematized, simplified reporting system for sightings of wild dogs by KWS staff, county council rangers, and local communities would also be helpful.

Encourage the use of private and communal lands for wildlife, to maximize the contiguity of small, isolated protected areas.

Establish a nationwide programme of predator management, in which some areas are designated predator conservation zones, and others predator control zones. In protection zones, work with livestock and game farmers to minimize persecution of wild dogs through local education, changes in livestock husbandry and, perhaps, compensation schemes.

Public education to raise the profile of wild dogs in Kenya.

Uncertain - wild dogs sighted may be resident or could be vagrants from Zambia.

Consider establishing photographic surveys in collaboration with neighbouring Zambia.

Track sightings and demography of wild dogs sighted to determine whether they are vagrants or breeding residents.

Consider establishing cross-border reserves with Zambia.

Confirm the status of wild dogs in south-western Mali, where there have been a few recent sightings.

Uncertain

Assess the status of wild dogs in northern Moçambique.

The establishment of a cross-border park which links south-western Moçambique with Kruger National Park, South Africa, and Gona re Zhou National Park, Zimbabwe, will have substantial benefits for wildlife in general and wild dogs in particular.

Good - there is a reasonably large population of wild dogs in north-eastern Namibia which is probably contiguous with those in northern Botswana and western Zimbabwe.

Continue and expand predator management programmes already established in north-eastern Namibia.

Consider vaccinating domestic dogs, and controlling their numbers, to minimize disease risks to wild dogs in north-eastern Namibia.

Consider photographic surveys in collaboration with those in northern Botswana to assess the contiguity of the two populations.

Public education to raise the profile of wild dogs in Namibia.

Probably extinct

Assess the status of wild dogs in "W" National Park.

Possibly extinct

Confirm the status of wild dogs in the far north-east of Nigeria, where there have been a few recent sightings.

Extinct

Vulnerable, but extremely valuable - Sénégal's wild dog population is contiguous with the one in Guinea, and together they represent the only potentially viable population in West Africa.

The linking of Niokolo-Koba National Park with Badiar National Park in Guinea will benefit Sénégal's remaining wild dogs. If possible, the area available to wild dogs should be expanded still further by encouraging land use favourable to wildlife in the areas bordering Niokolo-Koba and the Falémé Hunting Area.

Set up a predator management programme in the areas surrounding Niokolo-Koba and Falémé. Local conservation authorities should work with livestock farmers to protect wild dogs from persecution. It might also be appropriate to control domestic dog numbers and movements in these border areas.

Establish a programme of local education to raise the profile of wild dogs in and around Niokolo-Koba and Falémé.

Continue monitoring of threats to the Niokolo-Koba population.

Possibly extinct

Confirm the status of wild dogs in Outamba-Kilimi National Park.

Confirm the status of wild dogs in the southern Somalia, including Bush Bush National Park.

Good - Kruger National Park supports one of the largest wild dog populations remaining in Africa.

Maintain and, wherever possible, expand the area available to wildlife in Kruger National Park and the reserves that border it. Plans to link Kruger with Gona re Zhou through neighbouring Moçambique will have substantial benefits for wild dogs.

Establish photographic surveys in collaboration with Zimbabwe to assess the contiguity of wild dog populations in Kruger and Gona re Zhou National Parks.

Maintain links with game and livestock farmers in the areas surrounding Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park to expand the area available to this population.

Capitalize on reintroductions carried out in Madikwe and proposed in Pilanesberg by establishing a network of tiny populations in fenced reserves across South Africa, managed together as a metapopulation.

Consider reintroduction of wild dogs to the proposed cross-border Limpopo National Park if it is established.

Uncertain, but Sudan might support an important wild dog population.

Confirm the status of wild dogs across southern Sudan, including Dinder and Southern National Parks and the Bengagai Game Reserve, and throughout the eastern Nile floodplain.

Vagrant

Good - Tanzania has more wild dogs than any other country in Africa.

Maintain the contiguity of the Selous Game Reserve and surrounding wildlife areas - this is the most important wild dog population in Africa and its value cannot be stated too highly.

Assess the status of the wild dog population in Ruaha National Park.

Assess the status of wild dogs in the Maasai Steppe in northern Tanzania.

Coordinate photographic surveys across Tanzania to assess movement of animals between wildlife areas.

Avoid routing of high speed roads though Selous or along its borders.

Encourage wildlife use of communal and private lands in southern Tanzania to maximize the contiguity of Selous and Ruaha.

Establish predator management programmes on the borders of Selous and Ruaha - and also, if appropriate, on the Maasai Steppe - to minimize persecution of wild dogs.

Establish a nationwide programme of public education to raise the profile of wild dogs in Tanzania.

Support continued long-term monitoring and research of the Selous population: long term studies of wild dog ecology are critical to management.

Uncertain - but the population would be extremely valuable if still present.

Confirm the status of wild dog populations in Ouadi-Rimé-Ouadi-Achim and Siniaka-Minim Game Reserves.

Possibly extinct

Confirm the status of wild dogs in the Fazao Malfacassa Game Reserve, and on the Mazala, Kpeya and Kibidi mountain-sides.

Vagrant

Probably extinct

Fair at present but declining.

Focus efforts at conservation of wild dogs in the Luangwa Valley and Kafue complexes. These two areas, while discontinuous, each represent potentially important sites for wild dog conservation.

Improve control of poaching across Zambia's reserve network to maintain wild dogs' prey base and protect them from snaring.

Establish a nationwide programme of predator management, defining zones where large carnivores are to be conserved. In these zones, encourage land use which favours wildlife and establish predator conservation programmes to minimize the threats posed to wild dogs by persecution and disease.

Consider establishing cross-border reserves with Malawi to increase the area available to wild dogs and other wildlife.

Establish public education programmes to raise the profile of wild dogs in areas surrounding reserves in Zambia and to mitigate persecution.

Erect road signs along the road passing through Kafue National Park to limit wild dog deaths due to road accidents.

Compare anthrax strains isolated from Zambia with those from other parts of southern Africa, to determine why anthrax appears to have decimated wild dogs in the Luangwa valley while having little effect upon them in South Africa and Namibia.

Good - Zimbabwe's wild dog population has expanded in recent years.

Continue to maximize the contiguity of areas available to wild dogs by encouraging land use favourable to wildlife on private and communal lands bordering parks and reserves.

Establish a nationwide programme of carnivore management, defining zones where predators are to be conserved, and zones where they may be controlled.

Inside predator conservation zones, work in collaboration with local game and livestock farmers to protect wild dogs from persecution, and livestock from predation, and control the numbers and mobility of domestic dogs. Where appropriate, domestic dog vaccination programmes might also be implemented.

Implement public education to raise the profile of wild dogs in Zimbabwe, particularly along the borders of protected areas.

Continue photographic surveys to assess the contiguity of populations within Zimbabwe.

Collaborate with photographic surveys in northern Botswana to determine the contiguity of wild dog populations in these countries.

Carry out research on the economic losses caused by wild dog predation on livestock, and analysis of the circumstances under which such predation occurs.

Assess disease risks to wild dogs in Zimbabwe.