African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are commonly known for their bushy white tails, large ears, painted coat patterns, and incredible social dynamics. They once ranged across Sub-Saharan Africa, however, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, disease, and conflict with humans have caused historical populations to decline rapidly. Now, the iconic species is Endangered and there are fewer than 6000 African wild dogs remaining in Africa.
There are fewer than 600 wild dogs estimated to remain in South Africa, mainly occurring in formally protected areas. Free-ranging African wild dogs, those outside of formally-protected areas, are rare in South Africa.
The Waterberg Wild Dog population is one of South Africa’s last free-ranging African wild dog populations, persisting entirely across a patchwork of private game farms, nature reserves, livestock farms, and agricultural areas in the Waterberg, Limpopo. The population’s free-ranging nature makes them unique, however, it also poses a unique challenge to their conservation in a human-dominated landscape.
The rise and prevalence of South Africa’s game ranching industry created financial incentives to conserve wildlife and wild landscapes, benefitting the conservation of many threatened wildlife species and habitats. However, the industry has also created a high financial value for wild game species, such as impala, kudu, and blue wildebeest, which are natural prey sources for African wild dogs. In some instances, the financial value of these species is greater than that of livestock, creating an intolerance for wild predators predating on natural game in their natural environment.
As a result, African wild dogs are threatened by persecution in the Waterberg when they are suspected to predate on financially-valuable game or livestock species. Additional threats to the population include snaring, habitat fragmentation, and road collisions.
In addition to human-related threats, African wild dogs occur naturally at low population densities, have large home ranges, and cover huge distances when dispersing. These natural traits make conserving them a difficult task, particularly in an increasingly human-dominated and fragmented landscape.
The Waterberg Wild Dog Initiative works to provide education and raise awareness about the population, monitor and collect data, implement projects to mitigate threats, and promote the ecotourism potential of African wild dogs in the Waterberg. The WWDI seeks to implement community-based, data-driven, innovative approaches to promote African wild dog conservation in the Waterberg.
The WWDI works to raise awareness and provide education, particularly at a local and national stakeholder level, about the Waterberg Wild Dog population. There are many misconceptions about the Waterberg Wild Dogs due to the population’s elusive nature and fluctuating numbers. By prioritising the communication of information gathered on the population, the WWDI seeks to improve the general understanding about the Waterberg Wild Dog population in the region.
The WWDI makes use of social media, news media, WhatsApp, community meetings, popular reports, and presentations to provide information about the population, the threats facing them, and efforts to conserve the population. The WWDI also manages community WhatsApp groups for residents within the packs’ ranges to provide information about the pack directly to stakeholders involved in their conservation.
If you are a resident within the one of the packs’ ranges, please contact the WWDI for further information on how to be added to the WhatsApp groups.
Track and Sign Identification Kit
The WWDI is developing an African wild dog track and sign identification kit that can be deployed to farms in the region reporting signs of African wild dogs. The kit is a toolbox that can be deployed in the field following reports of African wild dog activity to improve follow-up monitoring of reports and better capacitate community members to accurately identify signs of African wild dogs.
The kit currently includes information on how to identify signs of African wild dogs by appearance, spoor, and predation. It includes trail cameras, Foxlight predator deterrents, a mold of an African wild dog track for direct comparison to anything found in the field, and information about implementing deterrents to safeguard livestock kraals and breeding camps.
Thank you to Toyota SA for sponsoring the development of these kits.
The Waterberg Wild Dog Initiative works to collect accurate data on the Waterberg Wild Dog population, including the population’s demographics and movements, and supports African wild dog research projects that can benefit the population’s conservation.
The WWDI works with partners to maintain reliable tracking on the resident, free-roaming packs by fitting tracking collars to members of the pack. These collars allow the team to remotely monitor the packs’ movements.
The WWDI also conducts field monitoring to record information about the packs’ age ratio, sex ratio, dominance hierarchy, and identifies dogs that may disperse. The team makes use of trail cameras to count pups born during denning seasons in a non-invasive manner and conducts post-denning season field monitoring to monitor pup survival from birth-to-yearling age.
There is little formal research that has been conducted on the free-ranging Waterberg Wild Dogs, primarily due to the difficulty of the terrain and challenges in working across numerous privately-owned properties. Where feasible, the WWDI works with researchers to help facilitate research projects that benefit Waterberg Wild Dog conservation efforts.
By gaining accurate data, a better understanding of the population is achieved. The information learned is beneficial to the community hosting the packs and to inform strategic projects to promote the population’s conservation.
Trail camera footage from the 2023 TOOG Pack Denning Season
Diet and Predation Research Project
From June 2024 – May 2025, the WWDI will be undertaking an ambitious, field-based project to better understand the population’s diet and predation on privately owned game and livestock farms. The Waterberg Wild Dogs consists of two resident packs that range freely across over 175,000Ha and over 80 different privately-owned game farms, livestock farms, nature reserves, and agricultural areas. The primary threat to the Waterberg Wild Dog population is persecution resulting from human-wildlife conflict when the packs are suspected to predate on financially valuable game and livestock. Despite this, very little is known about the population’s diet and predation on privately owned game and livestock farms.
The Waterberg Wild Dog Diet and Predation Analysis Project aims to provide insight into the population’s diet and hunting patterns, across the two different free-roaming packs and identify any seasonal differences in diet and hunting patterns. Wild dog behaviour and hunting patterns differ throughout the year as pack dynamics fluctuate. Understanding any seasonal shifts in diet composition, which will also be affected by the dynamics of prey species (e.g. lambing season), is important to comprehensively understand the predation impact on privately-owned properties.
Data will be collected through a combination of field monitoring, investigation of predation sites, and faecal sample analysis to better understand the population’s diet and predation. Due to the dense vegetation, mountainous terrain, and elusive nature of the packs, there is very little data regarding the population’s diet, hunting behaviors, and hunting success rate.
Despite being a challenging and ambitious project, this project has been requested by the community hosting and conserving the free-roaming population, indicating its importance.
The Waterberg Wild Dog Diet and Hunting Analysis Project is a targeted project that combines research with practical conservation outcomes. Upon the completion of this project, the data from this project will be used by the Waterberg Wild Dog Initiative to understand the packs’ predation on privately owned farms, better inform strategic efforts to mitigate human-wild dog conflict, reduce the threat of retaliatory persecution, and conserve free-roaming African wild dogs in the Waterberg.
This project is being led by Micaela Venter, Research Assistant for the Waterberg Wild Dog Initiative. The project is made possible by Toyota South Africa Motors and the Hair of the Dog Conservation Grant.
Micaela Venter is a Research Assistant for the WWDI working on the Diet and Hunting Analysis Project. Micaela grew to love wildlife whilst out in the bush Orienteering as a child. She went on to study a BSc in Zoology and Genetics at the University of Pretoria where she got involved in camera trapping for warthogs. From there, she proceeded to complete a BSc Hons in Wildlife management, writing her research project on the movement of the TOOG Pack in the Waterberg. In 2024, Micaela enrolled for her MSc at the University of Pretoria and is studying the diet of the Waterberg Wild Dogs as part of her MSc project.
The Waterberg Wild Dog population is one of South Africa’s last free-ranging African wild dog populations, persisting entirely across a patchwork of private game farms, nature reserves, livestock farms, and agricultural areas in the Waterberg, Limpopo. The population’s free-ranging nature makes them unique, however, it also poses a unique challenge to their conservation in a human-dominated landscape.
African wild dogs are threatened in the Waterberg by persecution, snaring, habitat fragmentation, and road collisions. Mitigating threats to the free-roaming population is a difficult task. The WWDI collaborates with a wide network of governmental and non-governmental partners, donors, private properties, and community members to implement projects to mitigate threats.
Snaring
A snare is a loop of wire placed in the bush, often in a tree, on a game trail, or under a fence, with the goal to trap and catch prey. It is a method commonly used by many communities as a form of subsistence bushmeat hunting. Unfortunately, these snares are indiscriminate and often catch many other animal species that are not the targeted prey.
African wild dogs are highly susceptible to being caught in snares due to their wide-ranging behaviors. The GPS collars that are used to monitor the dogs’ movements have become instrumental in mitigating the risk of losing wild dogs to snares. The WWDI works with partners across the Waterberg to identify high-risk snare areas, assess the risk to the pack, and develop site-specific action plans. Mitigating the risk of snaring to African wild dogs is not an easy task by any measure, and it becomes increasingly challenging in a free-roaming setting like the Waterberg as the packs travel across an enormous landscape. Collaboration is key, and the WWDI is very grateful to have a strong support network throughout the Waterberg.
In 2023, two males from the Melkrivier Area Pack were killed by fatal snare injuries.
Road Collisions
Road collisions pose a threat to the Waterberg Wild Dogs as they range across the landscape. Although there are relatively few public roads in the Waterberg, the terrain, vegetation, and road conditions can make it difficult to spot and slow down for wildlife before it’s too late. The prevalence of tight game fencing along the roadways can also create situations where animals get trapped in the roads and create panic when they’re unable to quickly find a hole in the fence.
The WWDI worked with SANRAL in 2022 to install warning signage along the R33, south of Lephalale, where the TOOG Area Pack regularly crosses the road. The section is dangerous because it’s a high-speed road (120kmph), regularly used by trucks, and it’s a mountainous, windy pass.
Since 2020, four African wild dogs in the Waterberg have been killed by road collisions, two of which occurred on this stretch of the R33.
Persecution
The rise and prevalence of South Africa’s game ranching industry has created financial incentives to conserve wildlife and wild landscapes, benefiting the conservation of many threatened wildlife species and habitats. However, the industry has also created a high financial value for wild game species, such as impala, kudu, and blue wildebeest, which are natural prey sources for African wild dogs. In some instances, the financial value of these species is greater than that of livestock, creating an intolerance for wild predators predating on natural game in their natural environment. This is a very difficult type of human-wildlife conflict to mitigate, and requires the implementation of innovative, community-driven ideas.
The WWDI manages WhatsApp groups for community members living within the resident, free-roaming packs’ ranges. The groups help facilitate communications with the private properties conserving the packs and provide a platform to facilitate an early-warning system. Location updates for the packs are provided to participants of the group, providing opportunities to pro-actively mitigate conflict by safeguarding high-value game and livestock when the dogs are close. The updates also increase the opportunity to see the pack while they pass through properties, a rare and special opportunity for many.
If you are a landowner, manager, or resident within the TOOG or Melkrivier Area Packs range and would like to become a participant on the WhatsApp group(s), please contact the WWDI for further details and criteria.
Outside of denning seasons, the packs range across a large area and local impact is relatively low. The highest potential for conflict is during the packs’ denning seasons, from approximately May – September, when the packs become stationary around a den site for 3-4 months to raise their pups. During this time, the pack is reliant on the prey base in the immediate area around their den site to sustain the pack, creating the opportunity for high, localised impact.
The WWDI works with properties during the denning season to help offset the impact of the pack denning by facilitating ecotourism projects, which raise funds from tourists paying to see the pack and distribute the funds raised back to the properties supporting the dogs during this time. Additional support is provided by sourcing fresh game carcasses to supplement the packs’ diets and reduce their predation impact in the surrounding area.
In December 2023, six African wild dogs from the TOOG Area Pack were persecuted by poisoning on a game farm in the center of their home range.
