Encountering Africa’s Wild Dogs

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African Painted Wild Dogs require vast areas for roaming, hunting, and breeding. They move relentlessly in search of prey, often covering as mush as 50 to 80 kilometres in a day. This has made tracking and recording of their habits extremely difficult. Even those Painted Dogs once present in the vast Etosha National Park in Namibia, found it necessary to travel beyond its boundaries in search of food, where they were set upon and eventually wiped out by farmers in the region. These African Painted dogs are now highly endangered wherever they are located in Africa, and though some attempts have been made to reintroduce the species into various wildlife reserves, all attempts have failed, as the introduced animals were faced, not only with the abundant, uncontrolled encroachment of human populations absorbing and decimating the land , but also with the opposition of more powerful predators defending their already established territories.

So, it was with some astonishment and excitement that myself and my camera crew, filming leopards in the Londolozi Wildlife Reserve in South Africa at the time, stumbled onto a den\burrow occupied by Painted Dogs, well-hidden close to a grassy, overgrown termite mound protruding out from under a thorn tree. As if this was not exciting enough, after a short wait, watching from a distance, so as not to disturb the occupants, we were treated to the appearance of a male dog cautiously leaving the den, followed closely by a female, and a litter of recently born pups. A site seldom witnessed by any wildlife photographer, or other naturalist.

The location was well chosen, with the view to the mouth of the den broken up by long-stemmed wild grasses and a scattering of long dead fallen tree branches. The male dog immediately positioned himself on the highest point, and starred at us, quietly positioned a short distance away seated in our open top Land Rovers. Seemingly satisfied that we were no threat, the dog turned to look back at his family, and produced a short, a high-pitched yelp. Astonished, we looked on in wonder as female dog, looking somewhat tired and ragged, sat back down on her haunches, seemingly exhausted from her duties of giving birth to, and supervising the feeding and well being of what at first count appeared to be at least half a dozen pups. The pups immediately scrambled around her, competing for position, until finally she lay down flat on her side, allowing the tiny hungry mouths to suckle.

Shortly thereafter, their hunger satisfied, one by one the pups broke away and took their first look around. Immediately they followed their natural urge to investigate, and it was only the diligence and perseverance of the male that kept the pups in check, as they recklessly attempted to wonder off to explore this big new world. It was a wonderful experience for us to witness, and never to be forgotten. Though filming and photography was difficult through the brush obscuring the activity at the den, we did manage to get some shots and some footage, though simply having had the honour of witnessing this encounter in the wild was more than enough.

Looking back now all these years later, I cannot but wonder what happened to those pups, as they grew up and learned the ways of their species, with their insatiable lust to roam so many kilometres each day, and their seemingly tireless ability to pursue their prey, working together as a team. Did some grow to be adults, and eventually raise pups of their own? Were some taken by lions, or shot by careless farmers? Unable to remain more than a few days in the vicinity of the den, before leaving the area, I will never know the answers to these questions. There are many dangers facing the existence of the African Painted Wild Dog, and one can only hope that greater awareness of their plight might emerge as more footage and information about them is collected.

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Austin Stevens

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