The mystery behind the disappearance of the African wild dog

A new project inside the Kruger National Park is aiming to solve the mystery of the disappearance of the African Wild Dog.

South Africa has a total population of 550 African wild dogs, 300 of those are situated in the southern region of the Kruger national park.

In a period of 20 years wild dogs in the north have inexplicably declined from 150 to just 10.

In order to reintroduce wild dogs back into the north the Endangered wildlife Trust has created an artificial pack.  

At the beginning of August 4 female and 4 male African wild dogs from Kwa Zulu Natal were placed together in the park. 

This pack will be released back into the wild by Mid-September.

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The wild dog is the most endangered carnivore in South Africa and the second most endangered carnivore after the Egyptian Wolf on the African continent.

"It's a first for the park to accept a foreign pack and have it reintroduced. 

It gives a home to these wild dogs and helps to figure out how they declined. 

This will also repopulate the north and recreate the gene flow" says the Trusts's Dr. Antoine Marchal Marchal says the lack of wild dogs in the north has created a gene gap between wild dogs from Zimbabwe and those in the park.

"Its a bit of a tricky species. Back in the days they were considered pests. 

They were being eradicated by conservationists. 

Minds have changed, the thinking and understanding is that the carnivore is an important part of the ecosystem and not just focus the herbivore" he says.