Wild Animal Proposal

WILD DOG REINTRODUCTION FEASIBILTIY STUDY

PROJECT PROPOSAL

Introduction

Human-mediated translocations of living organisms have become a common tool in shifting the range of a species (Seddon, Soorae and Launay 2005). The development of capture and transport techniques have facilitated these translocations of animal species across landscapes within and outside of perceived natural distribution ranges (Schemnitz 1996). These translocations have occurred for various reasons, namely; the use biological control agents (Hoffmann and Moran 1998), aesthetical (Griffith, et al. 1989) and more recently the wildlife trade and ranching industries, which have deliberately moved species into areas outside of their natural distribution ranges to generate

A managed metapopualtion approach defined as “a set of discrete populations of the same species, in the same general geographical area, that may exchange individuals through migration, dispersal, or human-mediated movement”, has been put forward to adress and reduce the undesirable effects of isolated sub-populations.

There are estimated 144 wild dog in 19 packs in the Kruger National Park (Lindsey and Davies-Mostert 2009) . This fluctuating population is considered to be the only viable wild population of wild dogs in South Africa (Mills, et al. 1998). There are an additional three known populations in South Africa:

The unmanaged wild dog population outside of protected areas, occur mostly on privately owned properties (i.e. game ranches) with low human densities and intact habitat (Lindsey and Davies-Mostert 2009). The population is considered to contribute 28.2% of the entire wild dogs in the country composing of approximately 104 individuals in 17 packs (Lindsey and Davies-Mosert, unpublished data).

The captive wild dog population in South Africa is estimated at approximately 268 individuals in 24 institutions (Lindsey and Davies-Mostert

A population and habitat viability analysis was carried out to develop a conservation action plan to improve the status of wild dogs in Southern Africa (Mills, et al. 1998). A priority outcome of this workshop was the recommendation to establish a second viable population of wild dogs in South Africa that would complement the unmanaged populations. This population would be managed in a facilitated meta-population manner. This action plan advocates for the identification of suitable protected areas to establish sub-populations by developing criteria for selecting prospective sites (Mills, et al.