World Wildlife Fund

African wild dogs are intensely social animals and hunt in packs to increase success rates versus hunting alone.
© WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY

No two African Wild Dogs look alike due to their irregular mix of black, white and yellow coloring in their coat patterns, resembling furry combat fatigues. Hence their other name: the Painted Hunting Dog.

The wild dog is one of the world’s most endangered mammals. Formerly widespread throughout Africa, today only 3,000 to 5,000 wild dogs remain in the wild. A recent survey of 32 African countries found that wild dogs were extinct in 19 countries, very rare in seven countries and present in only six countries: Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Major threats to the survival of wild dogs include accidental and targeted killings by humans, viral diseases like rabies and distemper, habitat loss and competition with larger predators like lions. Conflicts occur when wild dogs come in contact with people whose livelihoods rest largely on livestock and agriculture. Problems arise when expanding human activities decrease the habitat for available prey for wild dogs.

WWF staff and Selous Reserve guards searching for signs of wild dogs in the Selous Game Reserve.
© WWF / Philipp Goeltenboth

Current work
WWF started wild dog management in the Selous Reserve in 2007. WWF began to count them, to assess threats and began managing the dogs with the help of local communities.

The Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania, is home to one third of all the wild dogs in the world. Within the Selous Reserve – part of the largest remaining unfragmented wilderness area in sub-Saharan Africa – large numbers of elephants, black rhinoceroses, wild dog, eland, wildebeest, giraffes, hippos and many other species roam. A six-year study of radio collared wild dogs in the Selous from 1991 to 1997 gave some clues to their needs and threats. However, there has been no information on wild dogs since the end of the study, limiting effective management strategies.