African Wild Dog Conservancy - Kenya

African Wild Dog ConservancyOnly about 3% of the earth’s land is set aside in parks and game reserves and these areas are becoming increasingly isolated. African wild dogs exist at low densities, range widely outside park boundaries, and are particularly vulnerable to extinction as the human population increases and landscapes become in increasingly fragmented. Saving this unique predator requires community-based action and education because unprotected lands form critical wildlife corridors and provide spatial requirements that wild dogs need to survive.

Two high priority species - the Endangered wild dog and the Critically Endangered Hirola Antelope, a prey species - are found in South-eastern Kenya, a biodiversity rich mosaic of community lands and small reserves. Internationally recognized as a critical conservation region, the entire area is included in the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa and the Horn of Africa Biodiversity Hotspots. Due to past civil strife little is known about many threatened species in this remote region, including a population of wild dogs about which virtually nothing is known. This is a potentially key population linking wild dogs in the Horn of African.

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News Update - October 2007
With your help, we have completed the first baseline wild dog and social attitudes surveys ever done in Kenya’s Biodiversity Hotspot convergence zone and are now writing up the final reports. Over 200 sightings of wild dogs have been recorded and they keep coming, including a recent sighting of a pack of about 30 wild dogs (shown right) - a very large pack indeed! A pack of this size, with only adults and juveniles (no pups were seen), is really unusual. Prior to our work in this remote region, scientists were unaware that this potentially key population linking wild dogs in the Horn of Africa even existed. More survey details and discoveries to come as the study continues!

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Villages in the Kenya Wild Dog study areaIn partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service and local communities, this pioneering project is the first to study the conservation status and ecology, and the effects of traditional practices, religious beliefs, and human activity on wild dogs in the Biodiversity Hotspots of SE Kenya.

In partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service and local communities, this pioneering project is the first to study the conservation status and ecology, and the effects of traditional practices, religious beliefs, and human activity on wild dogs in the Biodiversity Hotspots of SE Kenya.

African Wild Dog Conservancy - Keya study areaThis area is culturally diverse with seven tribes. The project is also the first study to investigate the potential impact of wild dog predation on the last known population of hirola antelope. Training and working with local people is an integral part of this project with the aim of empowering communities to implement innovative conservation measures to help protect their natural heritage, and create educational programs to raise local awareness of the importance of the environment and wildlife conservation.

Founders
Kim McCreery and Robert Robbins co-direct the SE Kenya Community Wild Dog Conservation Project and founded the African Wild Dog Conservancy, a registered 501(c)(3) whose mission is to work with local, national, and international stakeholders to help save this highly endangered species.

Kim McCreery and Robert Robbins - foundersHaving conducted a nine-year study of the social behavior and ecology of wild dogs in Hwange National Park for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management of Zimbabwe, Bob and Kim are dedicated veterans committed to conserving wild dogs. To find out more about the Conservancy and its conservation projects, please visit our site.

If you'd like to support the invaluable work of the African Wild Dog Conservancy by making a donation, please click through to our site to make a donation by mail or Paypal.
Save the African Wild Dog