African Wild Dog Conservancy

The African Wild Dog Conservancy (AWD Conservancy) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), non-governmental organization, working with local communities, and national and international stakeholders, to conserve the African wild dog through scientific research and education.

Community Project

The AWD Conservancy has a community-based conservation project in the North Eastern and Coast provinces of Kenya in two biodiversity hotspots. This region is a rich mosaic of protected areas and community lands under extreme threat, with at least 70% of the original habitat degraded. Due to past civil strife little is known about the many threatened species there. This area is a potentially significant refuge for wild dogs and an important corridor for the metapopulation of the Horn of Africa, as well as for other threatened wildlife species. Virtually nothing is known about the conservation status and ecology of wild dogs in this region, including their interactions with people. This project has been identified as a wild dog conservation priority by the IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group[1] and the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA)/Wild Dog Species Survival Program.[2]

Partners

  • Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS): an affiliate organization, the KWS opened local offices in the region in 2011. KWS is providing logistical support and coordinating field operations.
  • WomanKind Kenya (Wokike): Wokike is a non-governmental organization founded in 1989 by local Kenyan Somali pastoral women in the North Eastern Province. It exists to empower the most vulnerable members of the community, specifically women, destitute girls, and poor households in the Ijara, Garissa, and Wajir districts, by improving the standard of living through capacity building, thus enabling these members to take control of their lives. The organization seeks to bring together the local community, and to confront ignorance, disease, poor livestock husbandry, environmental degradation, and poverty.
  • Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy: Located in the Masalani Division of the Ijara District, the conservancy surrounds the eastern sector of the Tana River Primate Reserve and is managed by and represents local Somali pastoralist communities from Hara, Korissa, and Kotile. The conservancy is a core refuge for the endemic and Critically Endangered hirola antelope.

References

  1. ↑ Sillero-Zubiri, C., Hoffmann, M. and Macdonald, D.W. (2004) Canids: Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Dogs: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, pp. 335-336 ("Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2011-10-04. Copy of the Action Plan)
  2. ↑ African Wild Dog SSP Report, http://www.africanwilddogssp.com/ssp/documents/SSP_Report_2007.pdf.
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