Wild Dog Diaries • Pilanesberg Wildlife Trust
Pack Update 25th March 2009.
Overall movement and location today.
Posted on 25 Mar 2009 by News Desk
Wild Dog update
After spending some time in the middle of the Park the pack made a big move South.
They where seen over the weekend at Lengau Dam and offered many visitors amazing sightings. They where seen chasing a Kudu cow over the weekend and the Kudu ran into the Dam with the Pack running up and down the bank excitedly, the Kudu just stayed there and the Dogs eventually gave up and moved of.
They are still in good condition which shows they are hunting well and adjusting to being released.
The first information from the GPS collar has been received and shows the movements of the Pack since release.
The Dogs are currently 200m from the Parks Staff accommodation at the Bakubung Gate.
As expected the Pack has also moved towards the fence and I can imagine that they will now resume the strategy of utilizing the fence line as another pack member and start what is locally referred to as the Pilanesberg Marathon along the Perimeter Fence Line.
Below is a view of the information of their movements from release, as well as one showing their location this morning.
Andrew Jackson
They where seen over the weekend at Lengau Dam and offered many visitors amazing sightings. They where seen chasing a Kudu cow over the weekend and the Kudu ran into the Dam with the Pack running up and down the bank excitedly, the Kudu just stayed there and the Dogs eventually gave up and moved of.
They are still in good condition which shows they are hunting well and adjusting to being released.
The first information from the GPS collar has been received and shows the movements of the Pack since release.
The Dogs are currently 200m from the Parks Staff accommodation at the Bakubung Gate.
As expected the Pack has also moved towards the fence and I can imagine that they will now resume the strategy of utilizing the fence line as another pack member and start what is locally referred to as the Pilanesberg Marathon along the Perimeter Fence Line.
Below is a view of the information of their movements from release, as well as one showing their location this morning.
Andrew Jackson
Posted on 02 Mar 2009 by News Desk
Wild Dogs Released.
Monday the 23rd February 2009 dawned like most mornings in the Pilanesberg.
But for 7 highly endangered Wild Dogs it was going to be rather different.
It was time for them to be released from the holding Boma and to take up their place as arguably the most efficient Predator in the African Bush.
After their extended stay in the Boma we where not sure how eager the Wild Dogs would be to leave their place of safety.
The plan was to use an Impala carcass to lure them out of the Boma and then shut the gates behind them. Their last meal was on the previous Friday so we banked on their hunger to outweigh their natural distrust of anything out of the ordinary.
We where joined by several delegates from Sappi and Waltons who are supporters of the Pilanesberg Wildlife Trust and the Pilanesberg Wild Dog Project. Before starting the operation a quick check for any Lions in the area was conducted as they would be attracted by the commotion and could possibly have deadly consequences for the Dogs.
Although we are fully aware that once released they will encounter Lions often, we did not want them to be first on the list.
During this period the excitement of the Dogs had increased dramatically in anticipation of a meal and this is exactly what we wanted to happen.
We entered the Boma to the excited twittering of the Dogs and every one took up their positions. The plan we envisaged using was to tie the Impala carcass to the back of a vehicle and slowly drive out the open gate. Plan B was to dart all the Dogs and then release them in the far West of the Park, this would not be ideal as we would have to monitor them intensely once they where offloaded and all would have to wake up and recover from the drugs at the same time to prevent the pack splintering in their confusion.
To be honest I was not too confident that they would leave the Boma and had prepared myself for a long day.
The carcass was offloaded from the vehicle and started to make its way towards the open gate. As expected the Dogs where at first skeptical of this change in their routine but the Females came to our aid. With them being raised in captivity they have always been more adventurous around people and they started to chase the food. Once they got hold of the leg of the carcass and started tugging at it the males realized that they where going to miss out and started to also follow. The vehicle continued at a steady pace towards the gate engaged by now in a tug of war with five dogs.
Once out of the Boma the vehicle stopped to allow them to feed but there was still one male suspiciously standing inside the Boma staring at the open gate. Once the Dogs outside started ripping open the carcass and that unforgettable smell of gut content infused the air the one remaining male inside ran out and also started feeding.
This was our queue to jump into action and we raced towards the gate, got off the vehicle and closed the gate.
To all intensive purposes job done and to my amazement in record breaking time and with no incidents.
The vehicles still in the Boma all came out and we sat around watching the Dogs finish off the rest of their meal.
At this stage I am sure that the Dogs did not know that they were out and were carrying on as usual.
During their time in the Boma I had observed that after every meal they would run to their water hole and have a dip and drink. As the time for this part of their ritual approached I think it dawned on them what had happened as they ran up and down the fence trying to get to the water hole. Due to the good rains that the park has received this year there where several small puddles of water on the road that surrounds the Boma and these became the new improvised water hole. The one catch with these puddles was that due to the vehicle activity around the Boma they had become more like mud baths than water holes and when the Dogs returned they where all covered in mud and had lost their amazing patterns and colours.
After every one had finished watching and taking photo’s it was decided to leave the Dogs to their own devices.
I was very interested to see what they would do once they had finished eating, as in the Boma they would lay around chewing on the bones and skin.
As a unit the Dogs started to head west and leave behind the smell of death that would attract any competitive predators in the area, as well as the Boma, their home for the last 12 moths.
They spent the rest of the day lying up in a thicket about 1.5km from the Boma escaping the heat of the day.
Later on that afternoon they made a very welcome appearance on Tshukudu E Ntsu drive, and provided the first sighting of Wild Dogs in Pilanesberg for over a year.
As expected news of the sighting traveled like wild fire through the Park and soon there where a multitude of Private and Game Drive Vehicles all enjoying the sight of 7 Wild Dogs lying on and around the road with absolutely no concern for the amazed spectators.
On occasion the females would approach a vehicle to within mere meters and afford them phenomenal photographic opportunities. Chatting to several of the guests in attendance they explained to me how lucky there where to be experiencing this sighting, but where absolutely dumbfounded when I informed them that the Dogs had only been released 5 hours earlier and they where experiencing the first sighting and something not seen for over a year.
As the Sun lowered in the sky and night approached the next challenge of survival now faced them. Historically the Dogs would spend the night on the mountain ridges, this is done primarily to keep out of the way of Lions that travel along roads and plains at night and to afford them a view of their surroundings in the morning to identify possible prey.
We waited expectantly to see what they would do, and again they did not let us down as thousands of years of instinct kicked in and they all started to make their way up a mountain where they spent the night. Another quick scan for any possible Lions turned up negative and we also left to return to our families and places of rest.
The next morning at Sunrise I found myself staring up into the mountain that they had used for the night, with the sharp constant pinging sound emanating from my receiver piercing the eary silence that precedes each day, the only clue to the fact that the Dogs where still there.
They spent the entire day up on the mountain ridge, which was to be expected due to the fact that they had fed the day before and where not hungry.
The following day proved to be the same with just small movements along the top of the mountain exploring their new surroundings.
This morning started again well before Sunrise, but with expectations high as this was now the third day and to our knowledge they had not made a kill yet, and hunger should start to kick in and force them to go looking for food. As usual I got the signal on top of the same mountain and waited for the Sun to rise.
With the light growing stronger I could start to make out the presence of several herds of Antelope in the valley below as well as a small breeding herd of Elephant.
The stage was set for what I expected to be their first hunting excursion, I sat and waited in anticipation. One hour, Two hours nothing listening intently to the transmitter for small variances in the strength of the signal, received from the Telemetry collar on one of the male dogs but to no avail.
I eventually left the area at about 09h00, estimating the movement of the pack since Sunrise to be about 150m.
It is quite possible that they may have made a kill during the time that I was not there and have no need to move as the mountains are alive with prey species for them, such as Mountain Reedbuck, and Kudu.
During their stay in the Boma they became habituated to certain vehicles and only associated 3 vehicles with food. This association should last for a while and is our way of monitoring them should they get into difficulty. I am convinced that they can see us and the fact that they do not come running down to our vehicle is a positive sign that they are not that hungry. We will continue to monitor them for the next week on a daily basis and if they seem to be losing condition will supply them with a meal to tide them over while their hunting abilities are honed.
The one male was fitted with a GPS collar that uses a cell phone to communicate its location to a computer system. This information is then plotted on a map and provides exact historical and current locations of the Pack.
Pilanesberg has very poor and patchy cell phone coverage but due to the large distances covered by the Pack they will enter areas with coverage on a regular basis.
Currently they are in an area which has no cell coverage and so we have had no updates but I will update this site as information becomes available.
Andrew Jackson
But for 7 highly endangered Wild Dogs it was going to be rather different.
It was time for them to be released from the holding Boma and to take up their place as arguably the most efficient Predator in the African Bush.
After their extended stay in the Boma we where not sure how eager the Wild Dogs would be to leave their place of safety.
The plan was to use an Impala carcass to lure them out of the Boma and then shut the gates behind them. Their last meal was on the previous Friday so we banked on their hunger to outweigh their natural distrust of anything out of the ordinary.
We where joined by several delegates from Sappi and Waltons who are supporters of the Pilanesberg Wildlife Trust and the Pilanesberg Wild Dog Project. Before starting the operation a quick check for any Lions in the area was conducted as they would be attracted by the commotion and could possibly have deadly consequences for the Dogs.
Although we are fully aware that once released they will encounter Lions often, we did not want them to be first on the list.
During this period the excitement of the Dogs had increased dramatically in anticipation of a meal and this is exactly what we wanted to happen.
We entered the Boma to the excited twittering of the Dogs and every one took up their positions. The plan we envisaged using was to tie the Impala carcass to the back of a vehicle and slowly drive out the open gate. Plan B was to dart all the Dogs and then release them in the far West of the Park, this would not be ideal as we would have to monitor them intensely once they where offloaded and all would have to wake up and recover from the drugs at the same time to prevent the pack splintering in their confusion.
To be honest I was not too confident that they would leave the Boma and had prepared myself for a long day.
The carcass was offloaded from the vehicle and started to make its way towards the open gate. As expected the Dogs where at first skeptical of this change in their routine but the Females came to our aid. With them being raised in captivity they have always been more adventurous around people and they started to chase the food. Once they got hold of the leg of the carcass and started tugging at it the males realized that they where going to miss out and started to also follow. The vehicle continued at a steady pace towards the gate engaged by now in a tug of war with five dogs.
Once out of the Boma the vehicle stopped to allow them to feed but there was still one male suspiciously standing inside the Boma staring at the open gate. Once the Dogs outside started ripping open the carcass and that unforgettable smell of gut content infused the air the one remaining male inside ran out and also started feeding.
This was our queue to jump into action and we raced towards the gate, got off the vehicle and closed the gate.
To all intensive purposes job done and to my amazement in record breaking time and with no incidents.
The vehicles still in the Boma all came out and we sat around watching the Dogs finish off the rest of their meal.
At this stage I am sure that the Dogs did not know that they were out and were carrying on as usual.
During their time in the Boma I had observed that after every meal they would run to their water hole and have a dip and drink. As the time for this part of their ritual approached I think it dawned on them what had happened as they ran up and down the fence trying to get to the water hole. Due to the good rains that the park has received this year there where several small puddles of water on the road that surrounds the Boma and these became the new improvised water hole. The one catch with these puddles was that due to the vehicle activity around the Boma they had become more like mud baths than water holes and when the Dogs returned they where all covered in mud and had lost their amazing patterns and colours.
After every one had finished watching and taking photo’s it was decided to leave the Dogs to their own devices.
I was very interested to see what they would do once they had finished eating, as in the Boma they would lay around chewing on the bones and skin.
As a unit the Dogs started to head west and leave behind the smell of death that would attract any competitive predators in the area, as well as the Boma, their home for the last 12 moths.
They spent the rest of the day lying up in a thicket about 1.5km from the Boma escaping the heat of the day.
Later on that afternoon they made a very welcome appearance on Tshukudu E Ntsu drive, and provided the first sighting of Wild Dogs in Pilanesberg for over a year.
As expected news of the sighting traveled like wild fire through the Park and soon there where a multitude of Private and Game Drive Vehicles all enjoying the sight of 7 Wild Dogs lying on and around the road with absolutely no concern for the amazed spectators.
On occasion the females would approach a vehicle to within mere meters and afford them phenomenal photographic opportunities. Chatting to several of the guests in attendance they explained to me how lucky there where to be experiencing this sighting, but where absolutely dumbfounded when I informed them that the Dogs had only been released 5 hours earlier and they where experiencing the first sighting and something not seen for over a year.
As the Sun lowered in the sky and night approached the next challenge of survival now faced them. Historically the Dogs would spend the night on the mountain ridges, this is done primarily to keep out of the way of Lions that travel along roads and plains at night and to afford them a view of their surroundings in the morning to identify possible prey.
We waited expectantly to see what they would do, and again they did not let us down as thousands of years of instinct kicked in and they all started to make their way up a mountain where they spent the night. Another quick scan for any possible Lions turned up negative and we also left to return to our families and places of rest.
The next morning at Sunrise I found myself staring up into the mountain that they had used for the night, with the sharp constant pinging sound emanating from my receiver piercing the eary silence that precedes each day, the only clue to the fact that the Dogs where still there.
They spent the entire day up on the mountain ridge, which was to be expected due to the fact that they had fed the day before and where not hungry.
The following day proved to be the same with just small movements along the top of the mountain exploring their new surroundings.
This morning started again well before Sunrise, but with expectations high as this was now the third day and to our knowledge they had not made a kill yet, and hunger should start to kick in and force them to go looking for food. As usual I got the signal on top of the same mountain and waited for the Sun to rise.
With the light growing stronger I could start to make out the presence of several herds of Antelope in the valley below as well as a small breeding herd of Elephant.
The stage was set for what I expected to be their first hunting excursion, I sat and waited in anticipation. One hour, Two hours nothing listening intently to the transmitter for small variances in the strength of the signal, received from the Telemetry collar on one of the male dogs but to no avail.
I eventually left the area at about 09h00, estimating the movement of the pack since Sunrise to be about 150m.
It is quite possible that they may have made a kill during the time that I was not there and have no need to move as the mountains are alive with prey species for them, such as Mountain Reedbuck, and Kudu.
During their stay in the Boma they became habituated to certain vehicles and only associated 3 vehicles with food. This association should last for a while and is our way of monitoring them should they get into difficulty. I am convinced that they can see us and the fact that they do not come running down to our vehicle is a positive sign that they are not that hungry. We will continue to monitor them for the next week on a daily basis and if they seem to be losing condition will supply them with a meal to tide them over while their hunting abilities are honed.
The one male was fitted with a GPS collar that uses a cell phone to communicate its location to a computer system. This information is then plotted on a map and provides exact historical and current locations of the Pack.
Pilanesberg has very poor and patchy cell phone coverage but due to the large distances covered by the Pack they will enter areas with coverage on a regular basis.
Currently they are in an area which has no cell coverage and so we have had no updates but I will update this site as information becomes available.
Andrew Jackson
Posted on 27 Feb 2009 by News Desk
Pilanesberg Wild Dogs
The African Wild Dog has been dramatically eradicated from huge areas of its former home range.
Currently there are only an estimated 3 500 to 5 000 animals left in the Wild.
There are several reasons for their decline in numbers including habitat loss and persecution by man as well as introduced diseases such as Rabies and Canine Distemper.
Wild Dogs in South Africa are managed as two populations namely the relatively self sustaining population in Kruger National Park and then all the other smaller reserves that have Wild Dogs.
Managing the Wild Dogs outside of Kruger as a Meta Population is vitally important for maintaining genetic diversity and population control.
Due to the fact that the average home range of a pack of Wild Dogs can vary from 200 to 1000 square Kilometers there are very few reserves in South Africa that can accommodate at least one viable pack.
The first introduction to Pilanesberg was in 1999 where 2 adult wild caught females and 5 pups where bonded with 3 captive bred males.
The ability to release captive born Wild Dogs back in the wild could very well be the saving grace for these efficient predators as there are several successful captive breeding programs in South Africa.
The largest threat to Wild Dogs in Pilanesberg would come from other predators and with Lion being the strongest they are often responsible for Wild Dog mortalities.
Once the Dogs where released from the Boma they where monitored intensely for the first few months to ensure that they where performing as a cohesive pack and hunting for themselves effectively.
In the Maps (click here to view the maps) shown we can see that the Pack utilized areas with the lowest Lion density.
Currently there are only an estimated 3 500 to 5 000 animals left in the Wild.
There are several reasons for their decline in numbers including habitat loss and persecution by man as well as introduced diseases such as Rabies and Canine Distemper.
Wild Dogs in South Africa are managed as two populations namely the relatively self sustaining population in Kruger National Park and then all the other smaller reserves that have Wild Dogs.
Managing the Wild Dogs outside of Kruger as a Meta Population is vitally important for maintaining genetic diversity and population control.
Due to the fact that the average home range of a pack of Wild Dogs can vary from 200 to 1000 square Kilometers there are very few reserves in South Africa that can accommodate at least one viable pack.
The first introduction to Pilanesberg was in 1999 where 2 adult wild caught females and 5 pups where bonded with 3 captive bred males.
The ability to release captive born Wild Dogs back in the wild could very well be the saving grace for these efficient predators as there are several successful captive breeding programs in South Africa.
The largest threat to Wild Dogs in Pilanesberg would come from other predators and with Lion being the strongest they are often responsible for Wild Dog mortalities.
Once the Dogs where released from the Boma they where monitored intensely for the first few months to ensure that they where performing as a cohesive pack and hunting for themselves effectively.
In the Maps (click here to view the maps) shown we can see that the Pack utilized areas with the lowest Lion density.
Posted on 03 Feb 2009 by News Desk
