Kenya: Wild Dogs
Posted at 9:48 am September 25, 2006 by Bill TooneBill Toone, a conservation program specialist for CRES, helped implement a teacher training program in Kenya. In blogs, he shares his experience as he works with Dan Rubenstein, a Princeton University scientist, and Louise Bradshaw, the St. Louis Zoo's education director, to inspire the next generation of Kenyans to work for wildlife conservation. Read Bill's previous blog, Kenya: Erosion 101.
The challenges for people and wildlife in Kenya are complex and deeply intertwined. Rosie Woodruff from the University of California, Davis, gave a presentation to the teachers on her work with wild dogs. While quite rare, these dogs can be a significant problem"”killing between 3 and 13 goats during one raid.
In watching the teachers I saw a more profound and almost combative response than toward any of the other presenters. Wild dogs were an amazing hot button in spite of their rarity. Because of this, we have scheduled Rosie to return for a question-and-answer session. We also invited other people involved in developing ways to protect livestock from predators. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds as we go along.
Bill Toone is a conservation program specialist for Conservation Education/CRES.
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September 28th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Thanks, Bill, for the educational blog about wild dogs. I have read that they are one of the few predators of Pandas as well. Are the wild dogs in China similar to those you have encountered in Kenya?
September 29th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Hi Margaret -
No, this is a different wild dog. They are quite endangered as they require an extremely large home range. They feed primarily on dik dik - the smallest of the antelope. They unfortunately have a bad reputation for killing livestock and therefore are quite unpopular with the locals.
Bill
November 12th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
hello san diego zoo. i'm 10 years old and turning 11 in 1 month. I have to say i love animals so much but most of all the african wild dog. i've done so much study and research on these animals for three years. when i am an adult i hope to be a vet. i've also been a vegetarian for 3 years because i can't stand animals hurt. if i had to risk my life for an animal i would. i've been to your zoo once last spring and it's amazing. i felt i needed to tell someone about me and how i felt but when i try no one cares and doesn't do anything to help me express myself.
a big fan,
Deziree Douglas
Editor's note: We're glad you care so much about animals, Deziree! If you are interested in a job helping wildlife, be sure to visit the Kid Territory section of our Web site and check out some job profiles. You'll be amazed at the the different jobs that help animals, one way or another!
April 17th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
hello sandiego zoo this is deziree again i am now 11 and i have been for a while i was just visiting this website because i havent in a while so i was just droping by to say hi