Oryx Vol 33 No 2 April 1999 Conserving the African wild dog Lycaon pictus. II. Is there a role for reintroduction? Rosie Woodroffe and Joshua R. Ginsberg Abstract African wild dogs Lycaon pictus have been extirpated across most of West and central Africa, and greatly depleted in eastern and southern Africa. Given an urgent need for population recovery, especially in West and central Africa, this paper discusses the possi- bilities for using reintroduction to re-establish wild dog populations. Reintroduction is probably now techni- cally possible, as long as release groups include wild- caught animals; several past attempts failed because captive-reared animals lacked skills needed to survive in the wild. However, reintroduction has only a limited role to play in wild dog conservation. Ideally, it should involve animals of the appropriate local genotype. Lim- ited genetic data indicate that wild dogs from West and central Africa may be distinct from those in eastern and southern Africa. Because there are no wild dogs with West or central African genotypes in captivity, and no wild populations in the region large enough to be harvested for translocation, future reintroductions might have to use animals with non-native genotypes. In addition, there appear to be no suitable sites for wild dog reintroduction in West or central Africa, and few in eastern and southern Africa. Releases currently planned in the Republic of South Africa will be locally valuable, but will not establish a population likely to remain viable without intensive management in perpetuity. For these reasons, protecting remaining wild dog popula- tions currently represents a better investment than any attempt at reintroduction. Keywords Captive breeding, carnivore conservation, conservation genetics, hunting behaviour, translocation. Introduction The African wild dog Lycaon pictus has suffered a serious decline over the last century (Woodroffe & Ginsberg, 1999). Formerly distributed throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa, wild dogs have been extirpated from 25 of the 39 countries in which they were formerly recorded, and are now virtually extinct in West and central Africa (Woodroffe et al., 1997). At present, only six countries in southern and eastern Africa contain populations that may be viable in the long term. Woodroffe & Ginsberg (1999) analysed the causes of this decline, and suggested strategies for the conser- vation of the remaining wild populations. In this paper, we review the possibilities for re-establishing popula- tions in some of the areas from which wild dogs have been extirpated. In particular, we discuss the role that Rosie Woodroffe (corresponding author) Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. Tel: + 44 (0)1203 524618; fax: +44 (0)1203 524619; e-mail: r.b.woodroffe@warwick.ac.uk Joshua R. Ginsberg Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Bvd, Bronx, NY 10460-1099, USA. Tel: +1 (718) 220 5884; fax: + 1 (718) 364 4275; e-mail: jginsberg@wcs.org Received 18 May 1998. Accepted 1 October 1998 reintroduction might play in wild dogs' population recovery. Reintroduction has proved a valuable tool for the recovery of species that have become either globally or locally extinct in the wild (Stanley-Price, 1988; Phillips, 1995; Fritts et al., 1997). Past attempts to re-establish extirpated populations have involved the release of both wild-caught and captive-bred animals; we con- sider both of these to be forms of reintroduction (IUCN, 1995). However, reintroduction is not always an appro- priate component of species recovery plans (Kleiman et al., 1994). Biological, logistical, organizational and even legal problems have limited the success of many reintroduction programmes, and, thus far, very few have led to the re-establishment of viable populations in the wild (Griffith et al., 1989; Beck et al., 1994). Recent plans for wild dog recovery within the Republic of South Africa are primarily based upon reintroduction (Mills et ah, 1998; Woodroffe, 1998). In the light of these plans, we evaluate the extent to which reintroduction may contribute to future efforts for wild dog conser- vation both in South Africa and elsewhere. Where is wild dog reintroduction most needed? Reintroductions may be planned to meet several re- 1999 FFI, Oryx, 33(2), 143-151 143 https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3008.1999.00053.x Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 107.173.136.147, on 06 May 2020 at 00:19:56, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at