VOLUNTEERING IN AFRICA

This past year I have been extremely lucky to have the chance to volunteer and study in South Africa and Namibia over the course of seven months. When I first booked up to go I decided to stay for three months, being a first time traveller and very nervous of going alone I didn't want to put myself down for too long, but also wanted to push myself a bit. 

Volunteering in Africa has been the best choice I have made in my life so far, and anyone thinking of going I hope this will help you to make that decision and take a leap!

Volunteers enjoying a bit of time off - GVI Karongwe

What is so fantastic about volunteering is that it doesn't matter where you come from, how old you are or what you've done with your life. I've worked on schemes with people aged from 18-60+; people from the UK, Sweden, Norway, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, America, Canada, Japan, Korea, Egypt, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland (and probably some that have slipped my mind); people who are students, retired policemen, social workers, accountants, teachers, doctors... The people who you meet are incredible and you never find a dull person. Everyone is a part of the team, no matter what. 

The first place I volunteered was a life-changing experience and what I learnt and discovered here led me not only to go back to Africa but to apply for my upcoming MA in Wildlife Filmmaking. This was with the company GVI (Global Visual International): African Wildlife Expedition on Karongwe Game Reserve. 

The work on this reserve is mainly for research purposes - as a volunteer you collect data on cheetahs, leopards, lions, elephants and rhinos, as well as keeping track on survival of prey animals in order to ensure the reserve is keeping balanced. You track focus animals (which currently includes 3 cheetahs, 2 lions and a leopard) using telemetry and keep note on their movements, what they are doing and what prey they are consuming. As well as this you are involved in reserve maintenance (such as invasive species removal and fence management), and a community project involved with children at a local school. The team who run GVI Karongwe are the most fun, interesting and intelligent people you can meet; they want to teach you everything they know and do so in a way you will never forget. 

Sub-adult Lion - Karongwe

As well as the work on the reserve this particular scheme has an additional trip to Marieskop Mountain where you spend a week mostly on small mammal research, but also helping with collecting data for MA and PHD students at the University of Pretoria. The mountain is one of the most beautiful places I've visited; you can enjoy exclusive access to one of the most stunning sunset sights I've ever been to looking out across Blyde Canyon, and swim in the lake (if it's not raining... which unfortunately it was most of my time there!) 

Small Mammal research. 

I was extremely lucky to be at Karongwe when a cheetah was darted in order to be fitted with a tracking implant, and was able to get closer to a wild cheetah than I ever imagined... And then my luck doubled when later a leopard was darted after sustaining serious injuries; in both instances volunteers were given the opportunity attend the surgeries and really get to see these incredible animals up close. 

Cheetah darted for surgery. 

I could go on forever about my time with GVI - I spent three months there and truly fell in love with Africa and it's wildlife. It's the whole reason this blog ever begun, and a place that I will never, ever forget. 

If you are interested you can check out their website here: http://www.gvi.co.uk/programs/wildlife-research-south-africa-expedition

The day after I got home from Karongwe I was online researching where I was going to go next. Within two months I was on a plane heading back. I first spend two months on a Field Guide Training Course at Shamwari Game Reserve where I became a qualified guide. It was an incredible course but I won't be talking about it here as I am focussing on volunteering, but if you are interested feel free to message me! 

My next stop was N/a'an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary in Namibia. On this project you work to care for animals that have been harmed by humans and either cannot be released or are waiting before they can be released back into the wild. The animals include baboons, leopards, cheetahs, lions, wild dogs, warthogs, meerkats, porcupines, caracals and a variety of other animals. The main duties include preparing food and feeding the animals, reserve maintenance work, cleaning enclosures, enclosure patrols, walking with the animals and taking care of orphaned baboons. A huge amount of time is spent with the baboons who have to be cared for 24/7 (that often means taking a baboon to bed with you); they are certainly hard work but you can quickly form a close relationship and learn to interact with them as individuals. 

Three baby baboons!

It's an incredible experience to get up close to animals and really learn their true nature. The sanctuary does a lot of good work and although many animals are set to stay there for the rest of their lives many of them are also released. Whilst at N/a'an ku se you can take the opportunity to visit their Leopard and Cheetah release project which tries to keep track of animals that have been released from the Sanctuary, but mostly focusses on animals on the local reserve with camera traps. It is on the beautiful site of Neuras Vineyard where you feel like to are miles from the rest of the world. 

If you are interested in N/a'an ku se you can check it out here: http://www.naankuse.com/volunteer-at-naankuse.html

The final project that I visited was also in Namibia, but miles out into the desert. It was with EHRA (Elephant, Human Relations Aid) which works to reduce conflict between the African subspecies Desert Elephant and the humans that live in the area. It is definitely the most physical project I have worked on; it works in two week phases in which you spend a week building a wall around water sources that elephants often damage, and a week tracking and taking data on the elephants. The work is enormously rewarding and you will never feel you've worked so hard in your life! 

The start of work! EHRA 

 One thing that really makes this project special is the "back to nature" feeling. Whilst on the building week you set up a camp with a bit of tarp, a long drop and a fire; during patrol it is even more basic in which you set up camp each night and "go"  behind whatever private tree you can! Sleeping you look up at the clearest, most beautiful sky you can imagine and then you spend the day searching for, and hopefully finding, one of the rarest species of elephant in the world. There are no fences, so when you find the elephants (against all odds) you feel an incredible sense of achievement. The main base camp is visually stunning (no giveaways) and the people are incredible fun! 

Watching the Elephants pass with EHRA

If you are interested in this project you can find it here: http://www.desertelephant.org/

During my time travelling I have seen the most incredible sights and had some fantastic experiences. For someone who was terrified of travelling I have come a long way and hope to spend a lot more time doing so! It is a great way to experience a place, you get an insight no other tourist sees and you are doing something to HELP! 

If you are interested and have any other questions, or you have experiences of your own you'd like to mention please don't hesitate to comment/contact me! If you are thinking about volunteering, stop, and just go! You will have the time of your life and never look back. I promise. 

The African Big 5 - PHOTOGRAPHS

It's been a while since I put any of my photographs up on here... so today is the day! 

Here are some of my favourite pictures I have taken of the Big 5 on my trips in South Africa :) 

A young male Leopard taken on Karongwe Private Game Reserve, South Africa

The always forgotten of the Big 5, African Buffalo - taken on Shamwari Game Reserve, South Africa

One of my favourites, the African Elephant - Shamwari Game Reserve, South Africa

Lion Cub relaxing in the sun - Shamwari Game Reserve, South Africa

White Rhino with an incredibly long horn - Karongwe Private Game Reserve, South Africa

A very rare sighting of a Black Rhino and Calf in the open - Shamwari Game Reserve 

Okay - not a Big 5 animal but I wanted to include this photograph of a cheetah - taken on Karongwe Private Game Reserve, South Africa

BADGER CULL - Response from MP

Last week, after the decisions made by government to go ahead with the trial badger cull which is set to shoot 5,000 badgers (see blog - 'BADGER CULL GIVEN THE GO AHEAD'), I sent a letter to my local MP, Norman Baker, asking him to stand up against the cull. I thought that some of those who read this blog would be interested to see how he replied:

Dear Ms Jones

Thank you for contacting me recently concerning the selective cull of badgers, which the government has decided to authorise.

I looked into the issue of badger culling at great length when I was the Lib Dem shadow environment secretary before the last general election. The removal of badgers from TB hotspots is both a complicated and difficult issue. There is undoubtedly a serious problem with TB in both the English cattle and badger populations, which is getting worse. The proposed culls are designed to control bovine TB in a measured and targeted way and will apply in two specific areas where infection rates are high.

While I find the idea of a cull of badgers deeply distressing, I am afraid that choosing to do nothing about bovine TB at this time, given the current lack of a viable vaccine, is simply not a responsible option. Leaving things as they are for the time being can only increase the suffering caused by TB for cows, badgers and other wildlife vulnerable to the disease. Allowing TB to spread is not a good animal welfare policy for badgers themselves.

Bovine TB is one of the biggest challenges facing cattle farmers today. Around 28,000 cattle were slaughtered in England in 2012 as a bovine TB control measure, at a cost to the taxpayer of nearly £100million, rising to £500million over the past decade. As a political party with a long history of supporting animal welfare, Lib Dems would much prefer to vaccinate animals rather than cull badgers. I have worked as best I can in parliament to try and promote better cattle husbandry, pushing for greater bio security on farms and in cattle movement, in order to prevent the cross contamination. It is, however, inevitable that cattle allowed to graze outside in the natural environment, as they should be, will encounter wildlife that may be carrying harmful diseases.

Over the years various governments have tried to develop an effective badger vaccine and I personally pressed the previous government to develop a TB vaccine for cattle. £43million in total has been spent since 1994 on developing an oral bovine TB vaccine for badgers as well as cattle vaccine. I am pleased that the coalition has at least committed to investing a further £15.5million in vaccine development over the next four years.

We are told, however, that a viable cattle vaccine is at least 10 years away and current badger vaccination programmes have been shown to have an efficacy rate of only around 70% in those badgers that receive the vaccine. I am both frustrated and disappointed that so little progress has been made and, in light of the current increased pressure on this matter, I have now written to David Heath asking why it is taking so long and what can be done to reduce this 10 year period. I will inform you of the reply I receive in due course.

In the meantime I am absolutely clear that what will now take place in the South West over the summer is merely a trial cull. Any decision to extend the culling programme to other parts of the country would be dependent on an analysis of the two pilot culls.

I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely

Norman Baker MP

I am both pleased and upset by this response. I am pleased that Baker is pushing to get better vaccines worked on, and that he obviously has been a greater part of the debate... But at the same time seems to think that culling badgers is actually going to do something. Where he states that vaccinations "have an efficacy rate of only around 70%" I ask what the efficacy of culling is? Infected badgers will be pushed out in fear and further spread the disease. Surely 70% of cured badgers is better than 5,000 dead ones? I am also worried as to his response that "what will now take place in the South West over the summer is merely a trial cull" ... it seems such a light way of putting that 5,000 animals are going to be shot, and many more severely distressed. 

I really hope that those that keep pressurising the government, and the petition that has now been signed by over 250,000 people will do something to make a change to this ridiculous decision... but I sincerely doubt it. When do they ever listen? 

PROTECTING RHINOS... WHAT IS LEFT?

The state of rhino poaching across Africa is out of control. The numbers of rhinos poached each year has risen dramatically: in the year 2000 just seven rhino's were poached in South Africa... last year (2012) the number was a horrifying six hundred and sixty eight. So far this year there has already been over four hundred and eight - that is more than two rhinos a day slaughtered for Eastern European... people (insert own noun as required). Already the Northern White Rhino has become extinct in the wild and there are only three left in captivity... all because of poaching. Things have become critical and hard action needs to be taken. This post will look at the methods that are being employed to save the rhinos and what might be the best option. 

1) DE-HORNING:

De-horning rhinos seems like the simple solution - if there is no horn for the poachers to take then surely they will be saved? There are several problems with this, first and foremost is that if a poacher has spent several hours tracking a rhino to find it has no horn they kill it anyway, just so they won't have to track it again. Also, horn is so valuable now that even the smallest end left is worth taking - it might not be the big bucks but pound for pound it is worth more in its weight than gold or cocaine. Another problem is that rhino horn re-grows and so each individual would have to be darted over and over (which is pretty bad for their health) and have their horn removed. It also affects the rhino behaviour - males can no longer fight and attraction is lost for females... In the long run this could severely affect how the animals behave and who they choose for mates. As well as this it is highly impractical for larger reserves such as Kruger National Park, for whom it would cost a fortune just to find all the rhinos, not to mention dart and remove their horn. 

2) LEGALISING AND FLOODING THE MARKET

Another solution that is largely in debate is to legalise the sale of rhino horn and, using the huge stock piles of horn that has legally been collected over the years, flood the market at such a low price that rhino horn is no longer worth the risk for poachers. However this was tried with the ivory trade and the problem is that it re-created the market and people who didn't buy before began to want ivory. It could not be provided on a sustainable level and so created even more trade for poachers. 

3) FARMING RHINOS

Along a similar line is the idea of farming rhinos for their horn. Since it grows back (as do our finger nails, which coincidently are made up of all the same properties) it would be viable to have a farm of rhinos and regularly remove their horn for sale. This just seems such a sad solution for me - these ancient wild animals reduced to being farmed. And again it causes the issue of creating more of a market than can be provided for. 

4) RHINO GUARDS

In several areas rhinos have their own personal body guards who stay with them 24/7. This is something poachers cannot get around and is a great way to protect them - guarded rhinos don't get killed. But this is such an expensive way for protection and can only be done for a lucky few... There is no way personal guards can be set up for every rhino in Africa! And again it just seems so sad that these animals cannot be truly wild and go about as they wish... 

5) POISONING HORNS 

On a couple of reserves in South Africa saving the rhino species has resorted to injecting their horns with a poison which, if consumed, will make someone very ill with stomach ache and severe diarrhoea. As a warning to potential poachers the horn is also injected with a visible pink dye which is also detectable through airport customs (even if ground to a fine powder). So far all rhinos that have been treated with poisoned horn have remained unharmed, and so this seems like a great solution. It in no way affects the rhino in health or behaviour patterns. But it also begs some of the same issues as de-horning; if a poacher tracks a poisoned rhino he is likely to kill it so as not to track it again, and larger areas such as Kruger are unable to do this to all their rhinos and so if all other areas poison their horns the killing would just become concentrated to areas such as Kruger. It is also likely that those selling rhino horn will find a method of bleaching the horn and continue to sell it to unaware consumers and continue to rake in profits (although if enough become sick from consuming horn perhaps it would deter them?). 

Every solution has its positive and negative side affects. The main issue is cost and practicality - sadly the best solutions are not really feasible. But one thing is unquestionable, and that is that immediate action must be taken. Rhinos must be saved. 

Added note - my friend Angie, who is in charge of Thandi's Fund Raiser Facebook Page, (raising money in the name of a rhino who was saved from a poaching attack - https://www.facebook.com/ThandisFundRaiser) linked me to another method ongoing which you can read about here: http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30851%3Arise-of-the-anti-rhino-poaching-drones&catid=48%3Adefence-technology&Itemid=109 

South African White Rhino - St Lucia Wetlands Reserve (2012) 

LIONS, COOL... BUT SHOW ME THE AFRICAN WILD DOGS

Despite having little experience with African Wild Dogs, and zero of them in the wild, they have come to be one of my favourite species you might find in Africa. They are resourceful, resilient  and often very misunderstood. They are also stunningly beautiful. 

African Wild Dog - N/a'an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary

Why I love Wild Dogs:

1) Family means everything to them; their social order is fundamental to their survival. 

They usually live in packs of around 10 individuals made up mostly of brothers, sisters and offspring. Only the Alfa pair breed and the whole pack works together to raise the young, bringing in food and working as babysitters in turn. Sometimes a non-Alfa female will breed, and in many situations it has been recorded that the Alfa will either raise the pups as her own or kill them. Wild Dogs produce the biggest litter of any of the canine family bearing up to 16 pups at a time! 

2) They are epic hunters.

Wild Dogs have an unusually high hunting success rate of around 80% - which means if you see them hunting you are quite likely to see them make a kill... If you can keep up. In comparison  Cheetahs on average are around 50% successful. This is because they are endurance hunters and work together as a pack. Incredibly they can keep up a speed of 40 km/hour for about an hour and often chase their prey to exhaustion before grotesquely disembowelling and eating it alive. Although this seems cruel the death is actually quicker and more humane than cheetah and lions' strangle grip. Their main prey is medium sized antelope such as impala and springbok. 

A herd of impala: average food source for Wild Dogs - Shamwari 

3) They can't be domesticated.

Most people hear the name "dog" and simply thing that these are animals that were once pets but now run free. NOT TRUE! This is one of the most ancient species of canids on Earth and developed on a completely separate lineage to domestic dogs. Unlike Wolves, Wild Dogs will not accept a human as part of the pack as their structure relies so strongly on family lineage - instead they will completely ignore a human (unless for food) and would never be able to be domesticated. They defy humanities desire to have control over everything! 

4) They know no boundaries. 

Wild Dogs love to run - they will run for miles and miles and very few reserves can contain them. They really are true wild animals and I love them for that. 

5) They have individual personalities. 

I haven't spent nearly enough time with these animals and I would love a chance to really study them properly. But the small amount of time I have seen them, and what I have watched on Wildlife Documentaries (although there are few that feature Wild Dogs) you can really see that each animal is an individual, bringing different skills and abilities to the pack. They speak to each other and greet each member of the pack individually after being separated. They really are highly intelligent creatures. 

The Wild Dogs of N/a'an ku se

Sadly the African Wild Dogs are under great threat and are the second most endangered carnivore in Africa (behind the Ethiopian Wolf)... There is currently an estimated population of between 3,000-5,000 left in the wild. So many of the things I love about them is what drives them towards extinction:

1) Family means everything to them; their social order is fundamental to their survival. 

Close pack life means that disease spreads through the family like wild-fire. Many packs die of diseases such as rabies - often passed on from local domestic dogs. 

2) They are epic hunters.

Successful hunting in the past has often brought them in to competition with other hunting animals - lions will kill them. They are also habitual livestock killers so farmers will kill whole packs of Wild Dogs in an effort to protect their livelihood. 

3) They can't be domesticated.

Many animals survival has relied on their abilities to live alongside, and even amongst human beings. Animals that can be domesticated and benefit the human population will always survive.

4) They know no boundaries. 

Most African animals now purely survive in protected game reserves where a fence stands between them and poachers. The fact that Wild Dogs don't survive in these smaller fenced off areas means that they are harder to protect. 

It breaks my heart that these animals face such difficult times, and I hope that I get my chance to really see and get to know them in the wild before they are gone. 

Please let me know what you think about this article and what you know about African Wild Dogs. You can also see more of my pictures of the Wild Dogs at N/a'an ku se in my post "Feeding the African Wild Dogs". 

 

A walk in the wild... Britain?

Okay, so-far all my blogs have sort of centred around foreign wildlife, but that's not to say that there is nothing to see in our good old UK! Yesterday I took a lovely little walk just up around my house and took my camera with me. I didn't stop and wait for the wildlife, but just snapped what I saw around me (I had my dog with me so had little hope of anything coming up to me)! It just goes to show you don't have to travel a million miles to see some wildlife. Take a look at the photographs I took and be inspired to get yourself out and see what you can :) 

A nice little patch of wild flowers in my back garden

This butterfly practically posed for me to take a photo! 

This little guy fluttered about but I finally caught up with him 

I loved this one because from a distance it just looked like a little blue flower... Oh how the eye deceives! 

This Peregrine Falcon swept over my head and I only just had time to catch a quick picture before it dashed off again.
I thought it was a Kestrel but was corrected by my step-mother when I got home... A rare sighting in this area!  

I was really chuffed to capture this photo... My dog had dashed off ahead so I managed to sneak up close enough to capture it on alert. 

Crows might be a common sight in the UK, but it's lovely to see them out in the open. This was one of a pair - the monogamous birds will usually be found together. 

Okay... not wildlife... But see how Honey loves to be out and about!?

So okay, it's not lions and elephants but I couldn't believe the excitement I actually felt getting out with my camera just around the UK. And if this is what I got on a casual walk with my dog, imagine what you can see if you actively search out the wildlife and sit and wait! 
Hopefully that blog is to come soon. 

FALSE PRETENCES: LION BREEDING PROJECTS

Doesn't this just seem the perfect way to spend your summer? 

"Working as a volunteer you will have the rare opportunity of hand rearing lion cubs of different ages. Hand rearing means being responsible for the cubs’ well being. Giving the cubs comfort, feeding them with milk formula from a bottle.  Replacing their mother in all ways.  Doing the mothers’ job of assisting them to urinate and defecate.  (For at least the first three weeks as they cannot do this for themselves).  Cuddling and just sitting with them you will enjoy your days in the company of the most sociable of all cats. They love to fall asleep on your lap!  Your days on Cub’s duty will include making the various feed mixtures and preparing meat for the various age groups and having interaction with the paying public coming to see the cubs."

 There are so many places out there where you can pay to cuddle a baby lion and take them out for a walk; hundreds of volunteering opportunities in which you raise a cute cuddly cub of your own! Bottle feeding, sleeping with them... SO CUTE! And amazingly all in the name of conservation! Not only do you get to cuddle a cute little baby animal that normally would be out of bounds, but you are SAVING a species at the same time. 

But stop for a moment, and think. Do you really believe that a lion that has been hand-reared and allowed to interact constantly with humans is really going to make it in the wild? The fact is that a released lion that has been raised by humans is an immense danger to the very species that thinks it is doing good for it. And what happens to a lion that attacks humans? 

Lets start from the beginning: Where do the cubs come from? In the majority of these projects cubs are taken from their mothers (who are also bred in captivity) from birth causing a huge amount of distress to both the mother and cub. In some situations they are brought from suppliers who are likely to have shot the mother in the wild and taken the cubs. 

As cubs are raised they lack the teaching that a real lion could give them; they therefore are unable to interact properly in lion society, unable to properly hunt and lack fear of their biggest threat. Us. 

Released lions who cannot hunt seek out the only place they have known to get food - they come into contact with people, and this is the biggest danger they could ever face. 

Sadly the majority of people who take part in these projects, or pay money to cuddle and walk with lions, actually believe they are doing something to benefit the species. Money is being poured in and someone is laughing behind their stacks of cash. This money could be put into conserving those in the wild, creating safe habitats for them and ensuring they are safe from poachers. 

There are so many projects out there that do actually benefit wild lion populations but these that pose as conservation programs undermine everything that they do. They take money that could do huge amounts to really save this threatened species. 

At the end of the day, wouldn't you rather see a lion as it is really supposed to be? Wild. 

If you are interested in volunteering on a program, or donating money to a project check out the "Born Free" guide that tells you what to look out for to ensure that you are investing in a real project that does real good: http://www.bornfree.org.uk/get-involved/voluntary-work/overseas/guide/

And please, just remember in the future that no matter how cute or cuddly they look, lions should not be raised like this. All you are doing by cuddling that little cub is decreasing its chances of survival and real life. 

Facing Elephants

I love elephants. I love their gentle nature, their low-level stomach rumblings, their intelligence, and their magical ability to disappear into the bush, despite their size. Whilst volunteering in Africa I had wonderful opportunities to get up close to elephants and took my chance to get photos up close. I find each elephant has an individual look and their faces hold a grace you see in very few people... 

A young calf - Shamwari Game Reserve

Shamwari Game Reserve

Shamwari Game Reserve

Shamwari Game Reserve

Damaraland - EHRA

Damaraland - EHRA

OPERATION SNOW TIGER

On Sunday night BBC's latest Wildlife Film, 'Operation Snow Tiger',  aired for the first time, and as we have come to expect from anything BBC it was a fascinating and eye-opening program. 

Young tiger cub rescued by Siberian Tiger experts in Russia

The program, which is presented by Liz Bonnin (who you may remember from programs such as 'Stargazing Live' and 'Bang Goes the Theory'), follows the Russian conservationists who have dedicated their lives to saving the Siberian Tiger species. The tigers are under threat mainly from habitat loss and poaching and now their numbers dwindle dangerously towards extinction. 

Siberian Tiger

The first episode really highlighted just how tough the job of the Russian conservationists is, with the team ploughing through snow up to their waists, digging out the cars and knowing just how small the chance of seeing a tiger really is (conservationists who have worked for many years on the reserve, specifically protected for the tigers, have only had up to 4 sightings of the elusive creatures). But they continue with their fundamental work despite the little reward and with no complaints. You really understand these peoples' passion for their work when they catch a glimpse of the tigers on the BBC's own camera traps. There is no doubt that these are truly dedicated conservationists. 

In the middle of their filming the group get a phone call from a local village - a tiger cub has been captured that is alleged to have killed a dog. The team race up to the rescue and to their dismay realise it is one of three who's mother appears to have been killed; one cub is safe but there are still two out there, unlikely to survive long without the care they need. Cameraman Max Hug Williams joins the team to hunt for the babies and soon finds himself on 12 mile marches through the snow, desperate to get any sign that they might rescue these that represent 1% of the entire Siberian Tiger population. 

The program is well put together and despite not seeing nice clear footage of the tigers, as you normally expect of BBC Wildlife documentaries, you get an incredible glimpse into this rare world that few will ever have the opportunity to see. And you couldn't get a better presenter than Liz who studied a masters focussed on tigers. As ever the BBC team have pulled it out of the bag, despite the difficulty of the project and I cannot wait for the next episode next week.

If you didn't catch the program on Sunday you can catch up here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p019cy5k/Operation_Snow_Tiger_Episode_1/

And don't miss the next episode - 8pm Sunday on BBC 2

Feeding the African Wild Dogs

These photos were taken at N/a'an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary in Namibia. I volunteered here for 2 weeks where I got to meet a group of animals I have never had the chance (yet) to see in the wild. These are the African Wild Dogs (or African Painted Wolf). This group was rescued as puppies... Born to a Beta (non-dominant) female they were rejected from their pack and would have been killed had they not been rescued. I normally don't agree with intervening in a natural situation such as this, but African Wild Dogs are highly endangered and the survival of all the young is fundamental to the survival of the species. When these dogs are old enough the plan is to re-integrate them into a wild pack and hope that they can live the rest of their lives naturally. 

Here is when I had the luck to go to a feeding session and got to see the dogs true natures come alive.