Posted December 12, 2014 in All
Sometime at the beginning of 2013 we were contacted by a charity called the Endangered Wildlife Trust. They were looking for a reserve to help bond a group of African Wild Dog. Although perhaps not one of the most well known of Africa’s endangered animals they are incredibly special. With only around 6,000 animals left in the world and just 450 surviving in South Africa these animals have had it pretty hard over the last few years with loss of habitat, disease and generally being regarded as pests.
We knew that this project would be incredibly challenging. However, this is what why we are here and this is why UmPhafa was founded, to help re-establish dwindling wildlife populations. So after an incredible amount of hard work from our maintenance team our boma enclosure. The Wild dogs arrived in June. Understandably it was very moving when they were released and that was only the beginning of our emotional rollercoaster. Initially we had 11 dogs 4 males and 7 female. After carefully observation over the next couple of months we chose 2 males and 3 females that we felt had bonded the best and these 5 were taken to a new reserve where we are proud to say they have now successfully been released back into the wild. This now left us with 2 males and 4 females. Their destination will be Zulu Land Rhino Reserve in Kwa Zulu Natal.
With our final six we were able to undertake one incredible milestone which was to mix the males and females together as previously they were in separate sides of the boma. This day was for everyone involved incredibly nerve racking. We had studied their interactions between the fences and we felt that they were ready, but these are of course animals and they don’t always behave as we expect. We opened the gate and after a little encouragment from us the first male moved into the female area. We watched as the females jumped and leaped all over him. Eventually the second male also moved across and we breathed a huge sigh of relief. Over time the bonding process has gone from strength to strength. Initially the males monopolized feeding times but after a while they have learnt to share with the females. They all lie close to one another during resting periods which is a sure sign that they have accepted each other and we have finally made our pack. We have also started to have less and less contact with them with regards to monitoring them. Our aim here is to ensure that there is a little habituation as possible.
The dogs are now ready to move on to their new home. I am sure there will be a few lumps in our throats as we watch them go, but we know that they will very soon be free, which is what the whole project was about.
If you want to give your support to projects such as this one then visit our donations page. All donations would be gratefully received and will go a long way towards assisting with many different areas within the important conservation work of the reserve.
