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In the magazine of Africa Geographic the August 2011 copy. I got a poster which said on it that there are only 394 of south Africa's African wild dog left. Do we need to be warried about this situation of the wild dogs of SA????

Hello, Wildlover!

There has always been a worry about SA's wild dog numbers...well, ever since man invaded their ranges.

Wouldn't worry too much, as their population is rather cyclical depending on disease, predator competition etc.

And they are very nomadic and difficult to count reliably!

But yes, they seem to be at a low at the moment.

In case of emergency, there are plenty at rehab camps, breeding facilities, zoos etc, also with a good genetic spread!


En die weer is simpel nou hier in Nellies!

Thanks allot Richprins it helps makes more sense nou!!!

I'm gonna throw a spanner in the works and say that maybe we should be worried. Although there have been some pups lately ( ) the populations are very low. They are officially the most endangered carnivore in south africa and the second most endangered carnivore in the whole of Africa. The mortality rates for adults and pups have gone up significantly in the past few years because of human infringements. For some people it may not be a worry and +/- 400 may seem like a lot but the reality is that if they keep declining like they are we may be like Cameroon and declare our last wild dogs dead.

Just my 2 cents worth, it's up to you whether you want to listen to it or not...

Yes, I agree Kendra. I think humans make the mistake of waiting till the the last instant to save a species. Rhino were successful - we could have lost them quite easily in the early 20th century - and perhaps some people use that as a reason to suggest that we can save most of our wildlife if we want to.

I think we need to worry, and worry big!

Rather put strong processes in place to prevent their decline than try to rescue them ONCE they are on the brink of extinction! The problem also of waiting till animals decline to low population levels is that the genetic pool decreases significantly - and too much inbreeding largely countermands the ability to rescue the species. Although cheetah underwent a natural compromise to their genetic integrity many centuries ago, we are still struggling to increase the populations because the gene pool is not diverse enough. nature didn't intend sexual intercourse as a pleasurable entity primarily for that reason - but to ensure that the genes were spread as far and wide as they could be, thereby strengthening the species. We need to learn from that.

Rhino were saved in time. I can see that several other endangered species will not be - UNLESS we catch a serious wake-up and put a full-scale drive into saving our wildlife. It;s not that there aren't people doing this - there are some amazing conservationists out there - but the problem is that we need a critical mass of people behind the projects, and most especially a full commitment from our government.

Let's keep praying and doing the right thing - and we MAY save our wildlife in time for our grandchildren to enjoy them as much as we did.

I agree with Kendra and OWN!!!

We Have to Worry!
After what I just read, I would look at the problem in a different way.