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NEWS: A new pack of African Wild Dog has been released onto the uMkhuze Section of iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal. The pack was successfully released from the Reserve’s predator boma at the end of May this year, after a two-year period of their absence.
During this two-year period, the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife management team on uMkhuze has continued to work hard at developing and implementing new technologies and techniques to preserve the integrity of the protected area and aid their Wild Dog conservation management. This also allowed the prey stock on the reserve to increase. The dedication of the reserve to advancing the conservation and range expansion efforts for this critically endangered species locally has been and continues to be significant.
Simulating Wild Dog populations’ natural oscillation in wild spaces, this exciting moment of African Wild Dogs released back into the reserve, is a major conservation success for the province, as guided by the KwaZulu-Natal Wild Dog Management Group (KZN WDMG) and the Wild Dog Range Expansion Project together with the Wild Dog Advisory Group of South Africa (WAG-SA). In the spirit of conservation collaboration, Wildlife ACT, the Endangered Wildlife Trust, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and iSimangaliso, partnered up to turn these plans into reality.
Since the pack’s release, the uMkhuze priority species monitoring team, with the use of tracking collars fitted to each individual that is old enough, has been intensively monitoring their movements and behaviour and will continue to do so daily. Special attention is also given to the pack’s hunting success and the strength of the pack’s bond to ensure the long-term success of the introduction. The pack appears to have settled well into their new home over the past months and has been exploring the western and central region of the reserve.
Wildlife ACT and the Endangered Wildlife Trust look forward to continuing working with and supporting uMkhuze as one of our key strategic partners, in ensuring future conservation successes and the continued safe space allocation for Wild Dogs going forward.
We sincerely thank all the loyal supporters and generous donors that have contributed to the success of this vital conservation effort this far.
To further support the ongoing daily monitoring of this pack, please click HERE.
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