getaway.co.za 85ABOVE Dr Michelle Henley holds an elephant collar.ABOVEGrantBeverley,oftheEndangeredWildlifeTrust,successfully
removinga snarefromananaesthetisedwilddog.Safeguarding wild dogs
Living in the small bush town of Hoedspruit, Grant Beverley,
Lowveld Carnivore Coordinator for the Endangered Wildlife Trust
(EWT), has been striving to save wild dogs for the past 10 years.
‘African wild dogs seem to have undergone a positive PR
transformation in recent years, and they’re top of sighting wish
lists for more and more Kruger visitors these days,’ says Grant.
‘However, they can prove infuriatingly tricky to spot, as they cover
huge distances each day, never stopping for long in one area unless
they happen to be denning.’
Wild dogs are South Africa’s rarest carnivore. It’s estimated
there are only 450 in the whole country, of which half are found
in Kruger. EWT has been monitoring Kruger’s wild dogs since
1995, and Grant has headed up this research project since 2010.
Wild dog numbers have decreased significantly in the north of
the park since 1995. It’s not known why exactly, but key threats
include snaring and disease. In September 2017, EWT led a
pioneering reintroduction programme in the north, releasing a
pack of eight dogs in the Shingwedzi area, all of which were fitted
with tracking collars. The pack has moved over the border into
Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and denned successfully.
Grantis alsocoordinatingtheWildDogRangeExpansion
ProjectintheLowveld,wheretwomorepackshavesuccessfully
beenreintroducedintoprivatereservesborderingKruger,with
anotherreintroductionplannedsooninMozambique.ewt.org.zaProtecting our ellies
I count myself lucky to have spent the last three years working
with Elephants Alive, under the leadership of co-founder, CEO and
principal researcher Dr Michelle Henley. She says her biggest
challenge ‘is advising on how to best manage expanding
populations in fenced reserves in SA, while also educating people
on the alarming pan-African decline of elephants.’ For 20 years,
this NGO has been studying the elephants of the Greater Kruger
to ensure their survival and promote harmony with humans.
Kruger is home to one of Southern Africa’s largest free-ranging
elephant populations. With the fences down, they can move
throughout the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which includes
Kruger National Park and private nature reserves bordering the
park (Timbavati, Klaserie, Umbabat, Balule and Thornybush)
in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe and
Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
Elephants Alive has developed an identification database of
nearly 2 000 elephants, which includes their sex, ear patterns (tears,
notches, holes) and the shape of their tusks. They have also named
and radio-collared 80 elephants to follow their movements in
greater detail. The focus is on mature bulls as much less is known
about male elephants, and this long-term research is providing
fundamental information for elephant management and
protection. elephantsalive.orgMike Kendrick, Constant Hoogstad
Youcanhelp
[email protected].