scholarly journals Community Opinions about African Wild Dog Conservation and Relocations near the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Emmanuel H Masenga ◽  
Richard D Lyamuya ◽  
Mjingo E Eblate ◽  
Robert D Fyumagwa ◽  
Eivin Roskaft

Conservation of the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) in human-dominated landscapes faces many challenges. Understanding human opinions of wild dog conservation is important to inform management decisions. Questionnaire surveys, including both open and closed-ended questions, were administered by researchers through face-to-face interviews of 297 respondents in the eastern part of the Serengeti ecosystem between January and February 2012. Our results indicated that most local people believed that wild dogs were extinct in the Serengeti ecosystem. According to the local people, wild dogs should have a high conservation priority. Moreover, tribe and gender are important demographic variables that explain the negative or positive perceptions ofattempts to relocate wild dogs from the Loliondo Game Controlled Area to the Serengeti National Park (SNP). We conclude that future conservation interventions should focus on the interface between community knowledge and modern conservation science.

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D Lyamuya ◽  
Emmanuel H Masenga ◽  
Robert D Fyumagwa ◽  
Machoke N Mwita ◽  
Craig R Jackson ◽  
...  

<p class="1Body">This study discusses the conflict between Maasai pastoralists and African wild dogs (<em>Lycaon pictus) </em>over livestock before and after the Maasai were evicted from the Serengeti National Park (SNP) in 1959. We surveyed 181 randomly selected households from six villages in the eastern Serengeti ecosystem. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to acquire the required information from the respondents. We found that males had a greater awareness of local wild dog presence and livestock-derived conflict than females, and reported more frequently to have chased and killed wild dogs that attacked their livestock. Moreover, the conflict existed before 1959, decreased during the 1990s, but increased from 2000 onwards. This increase is attributed to the growth in human, livestock and wild dog populations in the area. This study recommends that to foster their coexistence, the continued escalation in livestock numbers needs to cease while simultaneously protecting the region’s wild prey populations.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 122-129
Author(s):  
Hosiana Masenga Emmanuel ◽  
Daniel Lyamuya Richard ◽  
Eblate Mjingo Ernest ◽  
Dominikus Fyumagwa Robert ◽  
Røskaft Eivin

Behaviour ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 156 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-58
Author(s):  
Esther van der Meer ◽  
Nick Lyon ◽  
Thomas Mutonhori ◽  
Roseline Mandisodza-Chikerema ◽  
Peter Blinston

Abstract When selecting prey, carnivores optimise energy gained when consuming prey against energy spent when pursuing and subduing prey. Additionally, predators seem to preferentially predate on prey which presents a low risk of injury. When defending itself against predators, baboons (Papio spp.) can inflict serious injury and cause mortality. Although part of Africa’s large carnivores’ diet, predation on baboons is usually avoided. We investigated prey selection patterns of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. Based on direct and indirect observations and analyses of faecal samples, we show that baboons form a substantial part of the African wild dog diet and were more frequently predated on than would be expected based on availability. Predation on baboons did not vary over baboon sex or age classes but was affected by seasonality. This is the first study to describe a preference for predation on this unusual prey species.


Oryx ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Helen M. K. O'Neill ◽  
Sarah M. Durant ◽  
Stefanie Strebel ◽  
Rosie Woodroffe

Abstract Wildlife fences are often considered an important tool in conservation. Fences are used in attempts to prevent human–wildlife conflict and reduce poaching, despite known negative impacts on landscape connectivity and animal movement patterns. Such impacts are likely to be particularly important for wide-ranging species, such as the African wild dog Lycaon pictus, which requires large areas of continuous habitat to fulfil its resource requirements. Laikipia County in northern Kenya is an important area for wild dogs but new wildlife fences are increasingly being built in this ecosystem. Using a long-term dataset from the area's free-ranging wild dog population, we evaluated the effect of wildlife fence structure on the ability of wild dogs to cross them. The extent to which fences impeded wild dog movement differed between fence designs, although individuals crossed fences of all types. Purpose-built fence gaps increased passage through relatively impermeable fences. Nevertheless, low fence permeability can lead to packs, or parts of packs, becoming trapped on the wrong side of a fence, with consequences for population dynamics. Careful evaluation should be given to the necessity of erecting fences; ecological impact assessments should incorporate evaluation of impacts on animal movement patterns and should be undertaken for all large-scale fencing interventions. Where fencing is unavoidable, projects should use the most permeable fencing structures possible, both in the design of the fence and including as many purpose-built gaps as possible, to minimize impacts on wide-ranging wildlife.


Oryx ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosie Woodroffe

AbstractControversy has surrounded the role of intervention in studies of African wild dogs Lycaon pictus. Following the death or disappearance of all wild dogs under study in the Serengeti ecosystem, it was suggested that immobilization, radio-collaring or administration of rabies vaccines might have caused high mortality by compromising wild dogs′ immune response to rabies virus. Planning future management and research on wild dogs and other species demands an assessment of the risks associated with such intervention. This paper critically reviews the available evidence and concludes that it is extremely unlikely that intervention contributed to the extinction of wild dogs in the Serengeti ecosystem. A more likely scenario is that vaccination failed to protect wild dogs exposed to rabies virus. Radio-collaring is an important component of wild dog research; hence, the benefits of immobilization appear to outweigh the risks, as long as (i) research is orientated towards wild dog conservation, (ii) radiocollaring is followed up by efficient monitoring, (iii) the number of animals immobilized is kept to the minimum necessary to maintain scientific rigour, and (iv) full data on disease and genetics are collected from all immobilized animals. By contrast, rabies vaccination currently seems to confer few benefits, at least when a single dose of vaccine is given. Further research, on captive animals, is in progress to establish more effective protocols, and to assess the role that vaccination might play in future management of wild dog populations.


Oryx ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 851-853
Author(s):  
Pedro Monterroso ◽  
Filipe Rocha ◽  
Stefan van Wyk ◽  
Telmo António ◽  
Milcíades Chicomo ◽  
...  

AbstractThe civil unrest that ravaged Angola for nearly 30 years took a heavy toll on the country's wildlife, and led to a lengthy absence of reliable information for many threatened species, including the cheetah Acinonyx jubatus and African wild dog Lycaon pictus. Using camera trapping we assessed the status of these two species in two areas of southern Angola, and complemented our findings by reviewing recent survey reports and observations to provide an update on the species' status. We found unequivocal evidence that African wild dogs are resident and reproducing in Bicuar National Park, where cheetahs appear to be absent. Conversely, cheetahs may be resident in western Cuando Cubango province, where African wild dogs may only be transient. Based on these and other recent records in Angola, we recommend a revision of these species' distribution ranges and note the need for monitoring of these remnant populations and for appropriate attention to any threats.


Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (9) ◽  
pp. 1209-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther van der Meer ◽  
Hervé Fritz ◽  
Olivier Pays

Predators not only prey upon certain prey species, but also on certain age–sex classes within species. Predation risk and an individual’s response to this risk might therefore vary with an individual’s characteristics. We examined the proportion of time different age–sex classes of kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) and impala (Aepyceros melampus) spent high quality vigilant (costly vigilance that detracts from all other activities) in response to mimicked predation risk by African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). For both species predation risk was the main factor determining the investment in high quality vigilance behaviour. Age–sex class-specific responses were not related to age–sex class specific lethality risk presented by African wild dogs. For impala, regardless of predation risk, age seemed to have some effect on the investment in high quality vigilance with sub-adult impala spending more time high quality vigilant than adult impala, which is possibly why African wild dogs predominantly preyed upon adult impala.


Oryx ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Fanshawe ◽  
Lory H. Frame ◽  
Joshua R. Ginsberg

This paper presents a synopsis of the current status and distribution of the African wild dog Lycaon pictus, outlines reasons for its decline and discusses recommendations to halt or reverse this decline. A recent review of the status of the species provides evidence that it has disappeared or is in decline throughout its range (sub-Saharan Africa). Relict populations with little or no chance of long-term survival are found in several countries including Algeria and Senegal. Countries believed to contain potentially viable populations are, from north to south, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa (only the Kruger National Park).


PLoS ONE ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. e0146263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Ndaimani ◽  
Paradzayi Tagwireyi ◽  
Lovelater Sebele ◽  
Hillary Madzikanda

Oryx ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosie Woodroffe ◽  
Joshua R. Ginsberg

AbstractThe African wild dog Lycaon pictus has declined dramatically over the past 30 years. Formerly distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, today c. 5000 wild dogs remain in total, mostly in southern and eastern Africa. Wild dogs' decline reflects the expansion of human populations and the associated fragmentation of habitat available to wildlife. Because wild dogs live at very low densities, even ‘fragments’ covering thousands of square kilometres may not support viable populations. Furthermore, packs often range beyond the borders of reserves, so even nominally protected populations are often subject to persecution, road accidents, snaring and disease contracted from domestic dogs. Such edge effects mean that reserves smaller than c. 10,000 sq km will provide only incomplete protection. The highest priority for wild dog conservation, therefore, is to maintain and promote the contiguity of areas available to wildlife. Establishing cross-border parks and buffer zones, and encouraging game ranching on reserve borders, will all be beneficial. In smaller areas, protecting wild dogs requires that edge effects be mitigated by: (i) working with local farmers to limit persecution; (ii) controlling snaring; (iii) routing roads carrying high-speed traffic away from wildlife areas; and (iv) minimizing contact between wildlife and domestic dogs. Most of these measures will also benefit other wildlife.


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