AFRICAN PAINTED DOG

GREG Rasmussen hates the name many people have given his favorite animals. “They are not

simply ‘wild’ dogs; they are not feral domesticated canines with which people confuse them because of their name. When people know nothing about them, they fear them. Instead,” Rasmussen counters, “they are beautiful and endangered ‘painted dogs’ which need our understanding and assistance if they are going to continue to survive in Africa.”

            Rasmussen is particularly sensitive about misperceptions of these social and wide-ranging canines known not only as African wild dogs and painted dogs but also as “African hunting dogs,” “Cape hunting dogs,” and “spotted dogs.” “When my mother first read about the animals I was intent on studying many years ago,” he says, “she was fearful for my life, as there were so many awful and false descriptions of the dogs in books she read.” Today

those myths carry on in many of the animal’s range countries. “Most people grow up being told to shoot the dogs on sight because they think they are cruel, bloodthirsty, savage, and no good to anyone.”

            Rasmussen started working with painted dogs in 1989, when he was overwhelmed by the human-induced carnage to this highly endangered species. “No sooner than I had identified the presence of this rare animal did I find that shortly afterwards, they had momentarily left the sanctuary of the national park and were either shot by ranchers, killed on the road, or caught in poachers’ snares set for bush meat. These senseless mortalities distressed me deeply, and so I

decided to make the species my flagship in the hope of ‘making a difference.’” He started with neither funding nor accommodation and precious few savings, and he was distrusted by just about everyone the local Africans, ranchers, and even safari operators who did not recognize the dogs’ potential value. Winning confidences without falling off the track became the issue.

            To combat this, he started a major awareness campaign alerting people to the truths about the species and the problems they faced. Rasmussen’s vehicle, which also served as his home in the beginning, frequently touched ranchland areas where it was not welcome, and he was seen as much a problem as the dogs themselves. Rasmussen and his programs became a point of vociferous public discussion. He recalls being delighted at receiving a call from a rancher who said he was going to “bury him” because the dogs had expanded to the point that they were now on his ranch and Rasmussen was “responsible.” The very fact that he called

said one thing; the fact that the dogs had expanded into a new area said even more. Years before, the rancher would simply have killed the dogs and not considered calling. Rasmussen translocated the animals to a safer area, thus demonstrating his ability and willingness to do whatever was necessary to keep them alive.

            A decade after Rasmussen started his painted dog work, Zimbabwe overnight became a turbulent mix of conflict, lawlessness, increased poverty, and starvation, and once again African

painted dogs were in jeopardy. Snaring, a technique using wire to catch animals for meat and sale, hit astronomical proportions, and painted dogs often fell victim to these death traps. All the gains of the previous years were threatened. It was back to the drawing board for Rasmussen, though this time accompanied by Peter Blinston, who came from the UK to “help out” for a few months and ended up staying on. In a climate where few locals had much to rely on, the tenacity of the project carried through and the Painted Dog Conservation project (PDC) was expanded to include the community as partners.

            As conservation ignorance is Rasmussen’s greatest enemy, the program of which he is most proud is the organization’s Children’s Bush Camp. The effort introduces local kids to native wildlife, as well as to the dogs at the PDC rescue center. “Zimbabwe children, as in many other countries, often never get the chance to experience or learn positive things about wildlife in their own nation. Once they do, they are

forever changed,” relates Rasmussen. The children attend classes, perform skits, write reports, and visit Hwange National Park to see animals in the wild. The kids even get a “surprise” encounter with the normally elusive painted dogs by taking a nature walk down a long, raised walkway through the rescued dogs’ enclosure right before feeding time. The dogs are then released and come running toward their meal, right beneath where the children are standing, to their complete thrill and astonishment.

            Painted dogs used to regularly roam over much of Africa, their range extending to thirty-nine countries. Now there are estimated to be fewer than fifty-five hundred painted dogs in all of Africa. Shooting, snares, and road strikes are the major threats, and the Painted Dog Conservation program is busy addressing them all. Besides education, there are concrete, practical solutions that can save individual dogs’ lives. For example, PDC places wide, spiked, reflective collars on dogs, which serve multiple purposes.

            First, they can aid in freeing the dogs. The spikes on these collars help break or prevent tightening of snare wire, often placed to catch other game animals, but sometimes catching dogs instead when they investigate the bait. Reflective material on the collars helps warn drivers of dogs crossing the road at night. The collars also double as radio transmitters, helping to keep track of packs and their movements and add to the body of knowledge about these misunderstood animals. Coupled with road signs at common dog crossing points, radio collaring has reduced road mortality by 50 percent.

            PDC is a popular employer of locals, who find careers as dog keepers, educators, researchers, anti-poaching patrol team members, bus drivers, facility maintenance workers, and cooks. “It has made a difference that we are a relatively stable provider during some of the worst economic times the country has ever seen,” Rasmussen says. “We take care of the dogs and the people.”

            PDC has become somewhat of a regional phenomenon. Neighboring communities are impressed with the work Rasmussen has accomplished, and the dogs’ reputation has improved. “People around here are now telling us when they see dogs in the wild, and if someone finds an injured one by car collision or snare, they will often alert us so we can try to save the dog.”

            This lesson in compassion can be learned from the dogs themselves. When a pack member is injured, the rest of the pack, adults and pups alike, will take care of it, bring it food, and lick its wounds until it has recovered. “Learning about that loyal behavior has made a big impression on both those who work with African painted dogs and those who previously hated them, but now are willing to share their land with them.”

            In 2003, Rasmussen found himself in a dire situation when he crashed his plane while helping the National Parks Service look for a rhino. Since he crashed outside of the search area, he spent more than twenty-four hours in the wilderness with broken legs, ankles, and pelvis before help arrived. The crash was made legendary by the retelling both in a Discovery Channel documentary and on a television series called Alive. Rasmussen has recovered, but is forbidden by his friends and associates to ever fly again. Many would have quit working in the bush after such a terrifying near-death experience. But Rasmussen remains committed to the painted dogs and their future survival. “Painted dogs have increased from just 350 to 700 animals in Zimbabwe since we started our programs twenty years ago. My colleagues and I have faced many challenges along the way but the news is positive overall. Whether you call them painted dogs, African hunting dogs, or spotted dogs there are more around today than there were when I started working with them, and that’s a great sign for their future!”