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Wild Dogs at AfriCat

WILD DOG UPDATE!
July 2009
Okonjima Gears Up for 2010 - If you have visited Okonjima, or better yet, flown over it and looked down, you will know that Okonjima’s property is an island of welfare and conservation in a sea of commercial farmland.

Over the years the boundaries of Okonjima have been pushing outwards to provide the most essential ingredient in predator conservation, natural habitat. Okonjima provides security and time for all sorts of predators to regain their independence and return to the wild. Those that are unable to adapt and require ongoing welfare are given a home for life.

As space is a premium at Okonjima, we are very pleased to report on the development of the new reserve. The 22 000 ha private park fence is going up at a rate of knots with 82 km’s due to be completed by December. This is an extremely high specification fence which will be predator proof as well as monitor lizard, tortoise and pangolin friendly!

Initially the new reserve will be divided into a 16 000 ha park for cheetah rehabilitation and a 4 500 ha park for leopard and hyena tracking. The larger reserve will initially accommodate up to 16 cheetahs providing a much greater variety of tracking opportunities. There will be an area of 2000 ha fenced around the lodges which will be home to general game and provide wildlife viewing opportunities from the lodges.

The AfriCat Wild Dogs - Okonjima became the custodian of a pack of rescued African Wild Dog puppies in May 2005. African Wild Dogs (Lycaon Pictus) are a challenge to keep in captivity and need to be kept free from infectious canine diseases like rabies and distemper. As the puppies were rescued shortly after birth, they were hand raised and became extremely habituated to the AfriCat staff.

The final outcome of choice for all the predators at Okonjima is to be returned to the wilderness. To this end, the AfriCat Foundation staff have decided that it is time to move the Wild Dogs from their current environment and place them in a more isolated section of the reserve. This will hopefully encourage them to revert to natural form and begin hunting their own prey. In the bush, the Wild Dog is one of the most effective pack hunters in Africa but this is a learned behaviour which is alien to Okonjima's pack. So the AfriCat team are both nervous and curious about the months to come.

If all goes well over the next 12 months the Wild Dogs will be released into the new 16 000 ha reserve in mid-2010. Until then, your clients will not have access to them but we will keep you informed of their planned return to the semi-wild.

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