Lowveld Wild Dog Project

African wild dogs are an endangered species. Sustainable populations live in only eight of the thirty-nine countries where they once existed.

The Lowveld Wild Dog Project was started by Dr. Alistair Pole in 1996. Wild dogs naturally re-colonized the Savé Valley Conservancy in 1992 and their numbers rapidly increased to reach one of the highest densities in the world.

This population forms a crucial component of one of the largest wild dog populations in Africa, that occurring between southeastern Zimbabwe and northeastern South Africa. Some of the research and conservation objectives of our project include population monitoring, assessment of the impact of wire snaring, determination of interspecies competition with lions, and development of  solutions to conflicts with livestock owners and wildlife ranchers.
 

African Wild Dogs and puppies

Photo: T. Binford-Walsh. Used by permission.