The African Wildlife Conservation Fund promotes the long-term sustainability of healthy wildlife populations via research and educational partnerships with land owners and community members, natural resource managers, conservationists, and governments.
Wildlife Conservation fund
The wild dog project began in 1992 with the monitoring of a small and vulnerable population of 36 wild dogs. The wild dog project’s presence enhanced the protection of those dogs and the population increased to 134 dogs by 2004, the highest density in the world at that time. The wild dog conservation project was started in Savé Valley Conservancy (SVC), which covers nearly one million acres of southeastern Zimbabwe. Today we work and collaborate with other conservation projects in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, and Mozambique. Our goal is to protect the population as best we can while keeping our presence to the dogs minimal. We follow varying numbers of packs of dogs through the years using radio collars on a few pack members so that we can monitor their movements from a distance. We have expert trackers who work on foot, closely following dog tracks to find their dens during the breeding season. In good years we watch the playful pups grow up, and in tragic years we see them killed before they ever get old enough to learn to hunt. The wild dog population has come under many threats since the days of high population numbers, including pressure from lions and, preventably, from humans through snares set to capture bushmeat.
The AWCF staff on the ground are a group of very dedicated, highly-skilled Zimbabweans. This small team has made a huge impact on wildlife conservation in the region. They work closely with private land owners, national parks, local government, and rural citizens to try to find balanced solutions to sometimes controversial conservation decisions, particularly where people come into conflict with wildlife.
All of our work is done with the financial support of granting institutions and private donors. None of the officers or directors receive any type of financial remuneration for their efforts.
The African Wildlife Conservation Fund promotes the long-term sustainability of healthy wildlife populations via research and educational partnerships with land owners and community members, natural resource managers, conservationists, and governments.
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