Wolves, Wild Dogs and Foxes: Page 9 Endangered Species Handbook

Persecution and Hunting

Wolves, Wild Dogs and Foxes: Page 9

Official protection from hunting and trapping has been accorded very few wolf populations in the world, even where they are on the verge of extinction. In some areas, however, attitudes are changing, most dramatically in the United States, where documentary films and books on their behavior and importance in ecosystems, as well as recordings of their howls can now be seen in bookstores throughout the country. Superb photography illustrates some of these, most notably White Wolf: Living with an Arctic Legend (Brandenburg 1992), which provides glimpses into the lives of these fascinating canids in the Canadian north. Reintroductions of wolves into portions of their former range in the American West bode well for their future, unless the prejudices of many livestock ranchers hold sway. Canada may have the largest population of wolves in the world, estimated at between 30,000 and 60,000, with about 4,000 killed for fur each year (Nowak 1999). According to genetic studies, the wolves of southern Ontario and southern Quebec have apparently hybridized with Coyotes, as have wolves in neighboring Minnesota and Isle Royale, Michigan (Nowak 1999).

The ecotourism potential for wolf viewing in many parts of the world is considerable. In Ontario, Canada, visitors to Algonquin Provincial Park have come to hear packs howl since the 1960s. One of the first wolf conservationists, Canadian wolf biologist Dr. Douglas Pimlott, initiated these tours and educated thousands of people about the biology, importance to ecosystems and behavior of wolves. Their value in attracting tourists and contributing to healthy ecosystems far exceeds that of their pelts.

For some other species of wild dogs, attitude changes may not be enough to save them. The Dhole or Asiatic Wild Dog (Cuon alpinus), a small canid the size of a Coyote, is native to Asia, from southern Siberia and Central Asia east to India and Indonesia (Nowak 1999). This wild dog has rusty red fur on its upper parts, and white on its chest and belly. Hunting in large packs, Dholes pursue large prey, such as deer, wild pigs, antelope and wild sheep (Nowak 1999). Their social structure is not well known but appears similar to the Gray Wolf's, with a leader and lower-ranking members of the pack (Nowak 1999). Although Dholes seldom take livestock, they have been poisoned intensively and hunted throughout their range; they are also persecuted by hunters who regard them as competitors for game species (Nowak 1999). Dholes have disappeared from much of their habitat, and the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the species as Vulnerable, the category below Endangered, indicating a serious decline.

Similar in appearance, the Simien or Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis) is endemic to Ethiopia. Scientists were unsure in the past whether this animal was a dog, a wolf, a jackal or a fox. Most zoologists now describe it as a wolf. It may be related to the small race of Gray Wolf, Canis lupus arabs, that inhabits the Arabian Peninsula across the Red Sea (Nowak 1999). Simien Wolves have a head and body length of about 3 feet, are about 2 feet tall at the shoulder, and weigh from 11 to 19 kilograms (Nowak 1999).

The only wolf not preying on animals larger than itself, such as deer, but living in packs, Ethiopian Wolves feed mainly on small rodents (Gottelli and Sillero-Zubiri 1994). Once their range was far greater, encompassing most of Ethiopia's highlands, but with the development of agriculture and spread of livestock grazing, these wolves lost the majority of their habitat and came under totally unmerited persecution as a threat to domestic animals (Nowak 1999). Today, they have become restricted to only about six locations in the Ethiopian highlands. Discovered in the Simien Mountains of the northwest, the subspecies, Canis simensis simensis, was estimated at only about 40 animals in the 1980s. These wolves are so shy that even in the Simien Mountains National Park they have become nocturnal and stay in burrows when humans are in the vicinity. A crew from Survival Anglia, a British nature film company, spent weeks in the early 1990s seeking to photograph the Simien Wolves in this park, finally having to settle for a long-distance view of a solitary wolf.

Wolves of the Bale Mountains, separated by hundreds of miles, are larger and redder than the Simien Mountains race, and this subspecies, Canis simensis citernii, is somewhat more numerous than the other race. Only about 440 Simien Wolves were thought to survive in the Bale Mountains in the early 1990s, with perhaps another 100 in the Simien Mountains (Gottelli and Sillero-Zubiri 1994). Today, estimates are even lower. The Bale Mountains population is estimated at 270 to 370 animals, and 70 to 150 survive in the Simien Mountains (Nowak 1999). This species is thus at the edge of extinction. It is listed as Critical in the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, protected by law in Ethiopia and listed as Endangered on the US Endangered Species Act.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (formerly the New York Zoological Society) has funded research projects on the Simien Wolf for many years, including the studies of two zoologists, Dada Gottelli and Claudio Sillero-Zubiri in Bale National Park. Simien Wolves use their long legs to dig into rodent tunnels, aided by their acute senses of hearing and smell. In Bale Mountains National Park, 14 rodent species are native and three dominant species are endemic to the region, providing a huge food base for the wolves. They specialize in preying on the endemic Ethiopian Mole Rat (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus). The mazes of tunnels that these rats excavate aerate the soil, creating rich topsoil which nourishes the lush grasses in this highland ecosystem. The wolves have been seen hunting cooperatively, chasing young antelope and hares (Nowak 1999).

Livestock grazing is allowed in Bale Mountains National Park, and Simien Wolves wander among the cattle, presenting no threat. The wolves in this park have not been persecuted, unlike those elsewhere in Ethiopia, and do not hide from people. Filmmakers shooting the 1990 BBC film, “King Solomon's Mountains,” found the wolves in the open during the day, with adults hunting rodents, and pups playing wrestling games. Like other wolves, they are extremely affectionate with one another and yip in group choruses, sounding like Coyotes. Packs range in size from five to 13 animals, and they defend territories. As in Gray Wolf packs, only one female in the pack breeds, and because of limited habitat, nonbreeding females often stay with the pack, acting as "aunts" instead of leaving to begin their own packs (Gottelli and Sillero-Zubiri 1994).

Domestic dogs, brought into Bale Mountains National Park by the Oromo people to protect their flocks of sheep and cattle from hyenas, are a major threat to this species (Gottelli and Sillero-Zubiri 1994). Wolves have succumbed to diseases introduced by these dogs, which are not fed but set free to fend for themselves. Between 1992 and 1995, the Bale Mountains wolves were decimated by an outbreak of canine distemper acquired from these dogs, reducing the wolves from 240 to 140 (Anon. 1996). In the mid-1990s, more died of rabies. An even more ominous threat is their interbreeding with domestic dogs. The film “King Solomon's Mountains” showed a pack of wild Simien Wolves led by a large black dog that had become the lead female. Another film, “Last Wolves of Ethiopia,” shown on a National Geographic Explorer program in early 1998, recounted the story of a young female Simien Wolf who was ousted from her pack and, after a few years of wandering, paired with a hybrid wolf-dog. In general, male domestic dogs have bred with female wolves, diluting the genetic integrity of this highly endangered animal (Gottelli and Sillero-Zubiri 1994). Some populations of pure Simien Wolves are showing signs of inbreeding, due to their small genetic base. The combination of these threats has led scientists to predict imminent extinction for this beautiful wild dog.

To prevent their extinction, attempts are being made to convince the Oromo tribespeople to control their dogs, but scientists have concluded that captive-breeding may be the only way to save the species (Gottelli and Sillero-Zubiri 1994). There is no possibility of preventing these people from entering the park because of the tribe's centuries-old ties with this region and the potential of bad relations with them that could have serious repercussions on the conservation of park wildlife (Gottelli and Sillero-Zubiri 1994). As a means of controlling the domestic dogs, they could be neutered, vaccinated against disease, and provided supplemental food to prevent their attacking native ungulates in the park. A vaccination program has recently been carried out in the Serengeti, where domestic dogs transmitted canine distemper that killed one-third of the Lions in the region.

The South American Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) has also declined, although not as drastically as the Ethiopian Wolf. This long-legged wolf, weighing only about 44 pounds, hunts in the tall grasses of pampas and llanos, and eats rodents and other small mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, fruit and other vegetation (Nowak 1999). With shaggy red fur and black legs, it has been called a Red Fox on stilts. It is the sole member of its genus and the only wolf in Latin America. The Falkland Island Wolf (Dusicyon australis), native to the Falkland Islands off Argentina, became extinct in 1876 after large numbers were killed by fur traders and poisoned by sheep ranchers (Allen 1942). The size of a large Coyote, it may have evolved from foxes. Maned Wolves have been falsely accused of killing livestock, and persecution has caused them to disappear from Uruguay and most of Argentina. They have become rare in Brazil and the rest of their range in south-central South America. The Maned Wolf is listed on the US Endangered Species Act as Endangered and on the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Near-threatened.