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This project continues on from the previous years' studies in looking at the conservation status of the wild dog population of Zimbabwe's south-east Lowveld, assessing the extent of connectivity between the Zimbabwean and South African portions of the wild dog population of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA), assessing the impact of the multiple conservation threats facing the population and developing tools with which to improve conservation prospects.

The researchers have now spent several years in south-east Zimbabwe. Following completion of a bush-meat project, they turned once more to conservation research involving wild dogs in the Savé Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe, particularly in light of upcoming Transfrontier Park conservation efforts. The 2008 study expanded on their previous research, looking at the conservation status and threats affecting the conservation of wild dogs in the context of the Zimbabwean portion of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area.

Objectives
Gonarezhou National Park (GNP) is an integral part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) and yet very little is known about the status of large carnivores in the Park. In 2010 we investigated whether the highly endangered African wild dog was known to occur in the park, as well as other carnivores. The low numbers indicated that they are few and far between however they are significant enough to move forward with the project. 2011 will see the team incorporating distribution patterns and movements. Wild dog are known to be wide-ranging species and therefore movements across international boundaries are possible. Consequently these animals are likely to benefit strongly from the TFCA.

Investigating whether or not wild dog are able to and/or actually do move across the international boundaries will provide a valuable measure of success of the scheme. Likewise, wild dogs can be used as a flagship species, whereby encouraging their conservation and expansion of suitable habitat would have a considerable positive impact on the conservation of the ecosystem as a whole.

Methodology
The abundance and distribution of African wild dog in Gonarezhou were investigated, initially via a spoor survey and collation of sightings data and photographs. All signs of wild dogs noted during the spoor survey were followed up and two trackers were employed full time to help establish home ranges etc. Later on, individual packs were closely monitored once collars were fitted.

More GPS satellite collaring will now be fitted onto at least two wild dog packs and photos of all dogs in the Park collected. Both these actions will help clarify the movement patterns of wild dog, especially cross-border movements.

Photographs of wild dogs will be taken by the research team every time wild dogs are located in the Park. In addition, posters at both entrance gates will inform visitors about the project and request photographs of wild dogs if they should see them. To date several sets of photographs have been sent in by tourists. Frankfurt Zoological Society will also help with the collection of photographs. These photos are labelled, filed and used to create a quick-reference visual identification datasheet for the pack and will be shared with research and conservation teams in South Africa and Mozambique in case cross-border movements can be picked up through identification of individual dogs.

Background to the wild dogs of the Greater-Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area
The Greater-Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area and surrounds are home to an African wild dog population of global significance. In South Africa, Kruger National Park has a population of ~120 wild dogs, with 2-3 resident packs occurring in neighbouring ranching areas. The Zimbabwean population may be considerably larger and is of major conservation significance. Wild dogs occur at high densities in SVC. Populations are also known to occur in several other wildlife areas in the South East Lowveld of Zimbabwe. However, the extent of the distribution of wild dogs in the area, or the status of these populations is poorly understood. Furthermore, with the recent land reform programme, Zimbabwe has recently undergone significant changes in land tenure with major and poorly documented implications for wildlife conservation.

Prior to the land reform programme, Zimbabwe had a large and well developed game ranching industry. In 2000, at least 27,000 km2 of land was used for wildlife production and wildlife populations outside of protected areas were larger than they had been for many decades. Several characteristics made the Zimbabwean game ranching industry more conducive to conserving wild dogs (and other carnivores) than that in South Africa: ranches were generally larger, and were often unfenced, and land uses tended to comprise ecotourism or low off-take trophy hunting, relative to the higher off-take biltong hunting and live capture and sale operations common in South Africa (where predators are perceived to result in high costs to the landowner). Thirdly, there was an increasing trend for ranches to consolidate neighbouring properties to form large conservancies. As a result, several significant wild dog populations developed in ranching areas and on conservancies in the South East Lowveld.

With the onset of the land reform programme in April 2000, however, conditions for wild dog (and other predator) conservation changed significantly. More than 90% of white-owned farms and ranches were taken over for resettlement by black commercial or subsistence farmers. Due to the high human population densities in the South East Lowveld, the majority of former cattle and game ranches have been taken over by subsistence farmers. These changes resulted in several major threats to wild dog populations: major increases in snaring for bush-meat and depletion of populations of wild ungulates; habitat fragmentation due to bush clearing for agriculture, and elevated levels of contact between wild carnivores and domestic stock with corresponding increases in the risk of disease transmission.

March 2010
The project went very well, and a good background understanding of the status and distribution of wild dog in the Gonarezhou National Park has been established.  There are plans for continuation and expansion of the project, including more of a focus on genetic connectivity with Kruger and the possibility of trans-boundary movements.

The aim of the project was to investigate the status of the wild dog population in the park, as part of a larger study on wild dog throughout the Zimbabwean part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA). Specific project objectives were

a) To estimate the number of lion, hyaena, leopard, cheetah and wild dog using Gonarezhou

b) To investigate the abundance and distribution of wild dog in Gonarezhou

c) To investigate the movement patterns of wild dog, especially cross-border movements.

The results of the spoor survey produced an estimate of 23 lion, 310 spotted hyaena, 194 leopard and 23 wild dog in the 3786km2 area south of the Runde River . The results illustrate there is a very low density of lion and wild dog in the park.  It is likely that any relatively large wild dog pack will have a large home range (>1500km2), and thus the park probably only supports 2-3 packs.

Conclusion
Given how little was previously known about the status of large carnivores in the park, how little studied the park has been in general and how remote and inaccessible much of it is, excellent progress has been made. Continuing investigations on the wild dog population must be made, and locating the dens of the two main packs should be a priority. Once individuals have been collared, detailed information on their movement patterns can be obtained, and population dynamics, litter sizes, pup survival, diet choice etc can be investigated. A separate project to investigate the causes of the very low lion densities in the park will also be initiated.

November 2009
The wild dog team has had a busy few months over the 2009 denning season. Not only are they working flat out to protect the wild dogs in the Savé Valley Conservancy, but they have recently expanded their efforts to include conservation of lion and wild dog in Gonarezhou National Park as well - 5000 square km of unexplored wilderness.

In Gonarezhou, there is proper evidence (including a visual sighting) of two large packs of wild dog, both with pups, showing the dogs are breeding successfully in the area.

One particular success story relates to a male dog, affectionately called 'Willy Wonka' who had had a snare around his waist last year which cut off his penile sheath in addition to other horrific injuries. The team managed to save him, but didn't think he would ever breed again. Incredibly, he has proved everyone wrong and fathered a litter of four pups this year, boosting the depleted population in the south of the Conservancy quite considerably!

In the last few months the team has started a project to investigate the cause of the extremely low lion population densities in Gonarezhou National Park. Very preliminary findings suggest there are between only 30 and 50 lion in the park, a  small number given the size of the area, and historic population sizes within it.

Gonarezhou comprises a key part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, and has the potential to provide a key stronghold for large carnivore populations. However, low lion numbers are of concern and reasons for this need to be investigated in order to mitigate threats and implement appropriate interventions where necessary.