Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Carnivore Range Expansion Project has found significant success in reestablishing native population of cheetah and wild dog through a conservation network across South Africa.  There are times when land is not sufficient to maintain harmony, and human-animal conflict endangers the animal’s survival and must be relocated.

Before relocations can be undertaken, there are strict design and monitoring requirements in place when collaborating to build and utilize a holding facility.

Bahiti Nature Reserve agreed to modify an existing camp to support Endangered Wildlife Trust’s conservation efforts in protecting wild dogs.  Relocated animals need to be captured and temporarily placed in a holding facility.  This provides a controlled environment to contain and monitor the individuals; provide any veterinary needs, if they were victims of poaching, trapping, or snaring; and time for microchipping or tracking collar studies to be conducted.

The enclosure will also allow pairs or small packs of wild dogs to bond new packs.  Once they have bonded and can hunt and breed successfully, working as a pack, they are released from the enclosure onto the reserve to life wild. Adding genetic variation will allow both wild dogs and cheetah to increase healthy population numbers.