THE PROGRAMME► EWCP Approach ► Hands on Conservation

The Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme: Hands-on carnivore conservation
Prepared by Stuart Williams & Claudio Sillero, April 2005

For seventeen years the Ethiopian wolf - the world`s rarest canid - has been a flagship WildCRU project. Amongst other accolades the EWCP was lauded when Claudio Sillero won the prestigious Whitley Award for conservation in 1998. It continues today with one of the most valuable long-term databases on any endangered carnivore.

The Ethiopian wolf Canis simensis is a rare endemic of the highlands of Ethiopia. With some 500 individuals remaining in seven isolated populations, the Ethiopian wolf is the rarest canid in the world and arguably the rarest carnivore in Africa. The wolves are generally found above 3,200m in the unique Afroalpine ecosystem. At this altitude subsistence farmers are increasingly tilling the land, and in some areas wolf habitats have been lost with agriculture reaching as high as 3,700m

Afroalpine rodents dominate these cold and seemingly barren plateaux due to their ability to flee the bad weather by living underground. The abundance of rodents is phenomenal - both in terms of biomass and diversity. Indeed, their biomass (up to 29kg/ha) in some mountain meadows approaches that of the large ungulate community of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in Tanzania and Kenya. The wolves, with raptors, are the rodents` main predators. They are precision solitary hunters, specialized on diurnal rodents, most of which are also Afroalpine endemics. The wolves` primary prey is the giant molerat Tachyoryctes macrocephalus, a marmot-like creature unique to Bale, which, at 900g, provides a handsome meal. However, true to their wolf colours, Ethiopian wolves are also facultative cooperative hunters, and whenever the opportunity arises they aggregate to hunt hares, hyrax and small ungulates.

In contrast to their generally solitary foraging habits the wolves are social animals, living in cohesive social units or packs, which defend exclusive territories (between 6-13km², depending on prey density). The packs range from 3-13 adults and are generally biased towards males. Whereas males never leave their natal range, up to two thirds of females disperse to seek breeding openings elsewhere, and in the process they sustain higher mortality as sub-adults.

Until recently the Ethiopian wolf (previously know as the Simien fox or jackal, or Abyssinian wolf), was notable simply for its precarious status at the verge of extinction. But in 1988, Claudio Sillero and Dada Gottelli of the WildCRU set up a field study in the Bale Mountains - the stronghold for the species. The researchers initially focussed on the behavioural ecology of the wolf and what was needed to protect them effectively from extinction. The study unveiled a fascinating story, with wolf packs dominated by an alpha pair but all pack members actively helping to rear the young. They also examined their feeding and spatial ecology in relation to the rodents. Another important finding concerned the ability of wolf packs to coexist amicably with mountain pastoralists and their herds.

After a hiatus imposed by warfare and civil unrest, WildCRU (and collaborators from the Zoological Society of London and the University of Edinburgh) returned to Ethiopia and set up the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme in collaboration with Ethiopia's Wildlife Conservation Department. The EWCP`s role is to implement conservation actions and it is amongst the most management-oriented projects undertaken by the WildCRU, an unparalleled opportunity to wed conservation theory and practice.

Over the past few years, the EWCP has been strengthened by several important events. First, the IUCN/SSC Ethiopian Wolf Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan was published. Second, the EWCP was pledged core funding from the Born Free Foundation for a period of eight years. Third, the Ethiopian President, Dr Nagassu Gidada, endorsed the Programme. Fourth, in 1999, the aims and actions of the Programme were strengthened by an international workshop that brought together wolf experts, politicians and farmers from across Ethiopia and beyond. Fifth, between 1997-2000, an ambitious series of surveys that reached every Afroalpine pocket in the country was carried out. We now estimate that 500 adult wolves persist today, living in seven mountain ranges, some of which are fragmented into even smaller sub-populations. These populations are generally small and are thought to be isolated. Over half the global population is found in the Bale Mountains, with the next largest population in the Arsi range with a maximum of 80 individuals. The remainder of the populations are all between 10-50 animals. Sixth, disease episodes that took place in the early 1990s prompted Karen Laurenson of the University of Edinburgh to start the Bale Rabies Control Project. The disease episodes - rabies and possibly canine distemper - reduced the Bale population from an estimated 440 to under 150 animals a decade ago. The aims of the Bale Rabies Control Project were to carry out research to assess the threat of disease to the wolf`s persistence, to examine which species were potential carriers of the disease, and to determine the optimal means of counteracting the threat of disease. Finally, domestic dogs were observed hybridizing with wolves. Hybrid animals, although observed in only one area of the Bale Mountains, pose a threat to the genetic integrity of the wolf population. Genetic work undertaken in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London using mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite alleles confirmed that hybridization had occurred through crosses between female wolves and male domestic dogs. Given this threat of hybridization and the role that domestic dogs have in disease transmission, they pose one of the most worrying threats to the last surviving Ethiopian wolves.

The work to date has led to the determination and ranking of the main threats to the wolves. These are:

• Canid related diseases;
• Habitat loss and fragmentation due to high-altitude subsistence agriculture;
• Overgrazing of highland pasture;
• Human interference and persecution due to conflict over livestock losses;
• In some areas, habitat is threatened by proposed development of commercial sheep farms;
• Hybridization with domestic dogs;
• Road kills on the increasing number of roads crossing the Afroalpine habitats.

In addition, there are inherent conservation implications for a species that exists in such small and isolated populations.

The threats to the wolves are counteracted by the EWCP through the implementation of conservation actions. These include:

• Education;
• Tourism development;
• Strengthening the protected area network;
• Carrying out vaccination and sterilization campaigns among the local dog populations.
Whenever possible, the local human communities are involved in the activities.

The education campaign targets both children and adults. The education team visits schools and makes presentations at meetings in the local communities, at the local administration or farmer association levels. Links between primary school children in Bale have been set up with schools in the UK. The `Wolf Day` is an annual sports day organized by the EWCP aimed mainly at the primary school children but includes events open to all participants.

Our activities in tourism development include working with local guide associations, strengthening their capacity through training and formalizing their existence with local authorities. We also work to improve the infrastructure for tourism through the creation of trekking routes, establishing campsites and constructing mountain huts. Finally, we produce promotional material including guidebooks and leaflets.

The EWCP works with existing protected areas, focusing on strengthening the protection of wildlife. As such, we fund patrolling of the areas and work with scouts to improve their understanding of conservation and the role of protected areas. We are involved in seeking long-term funding for the protected areas, which are not sustainable because of lack of funding from the government and by virtue of the low number of tourists that visit Ethiopia. Of the wolf ranges, only two fall in the existing protected area network. It is imperative that we extend the network to other ranges. This does not necessarily mean that they should be gazetted as national parks, but they should be assigned appropriate protected area status and associated legislation to prevent exploitation that may pose a threat to the wolves.

Finally, the domestic dog populations in and surrounding the wolf population in the Bale Mountains have been targeted with a vaccination campaign against rabies and distemper. We have achieved pleasingly high coverage. In a recent survey of the western half of the Bale Mountains (critical because of high dog densities overlapping with an important wolf range), 93% coverage of the dog population was achieved. This contrasts with the estimated 70% coverage that is the minimum necessary to adequately prevent the transmission of disease.

In parallel with the vaccination campaign, the population of wolves within the Bale Mountains has been closely monitored since 1983. The monitoring has recorded a recovery to pre-epidemic levels in two key areas. If this recovery is an indication of the success of the Programme, we could declare ourselves heading in the right direction. Of course, such claims may not be justified as the population might have recovered in our absence. Nonetheless, we think there is little doubt that we are contributing to the conservation of the Ethiopian wolf.

In conclusion, the EWCP is having successes in the Bale Mountains and is becoming truly nationwide, as we spread our activities throughout northern Ethiopia, where the small, isolated wolf populations are more vulnerable to extinction.. Finally, we hope that by using the Ethiopian wolf as a flagship species we will boost wildlife conservation throughout the Afroalpine ecosystem, home to the vast majority of Ethiopia`s endemic plant and animal species.

Relevant Publications

Macdonald, D.W. & Sillero-Zubiri, C. (2004). Wild canids - an introduction and dramatis personae. In: The biology and conservation of wild canids, pp. 3-36. Eds. D.W. Macdonald & C. Sillero-Zubiri. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Marino, J. (2003). Threatened Ethiopian wolves persist in small isolated Afroalpine enclaves. Oryx, 37(1): 62-71.

Sillero-Zubiri, C. (2000). Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis). In: Endangered animals: a reference guide to conflicting issues, pp. 95-100. Eds. R.P. Reading & B. Miller. Greenwood Press: Westport, CT.

Sillero-Zubiri, C. & Gottelli, D. (1995). Spatial organization in the Ethiopian wolf Canis simensis: large packs and small stable home ranges. Journal of Zoology (London), 237(1): 65-81.

Sillero-Zubiri, C. & Gottelli, D. (1995). Diet and feeding behavior of Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis). Journal of Mammalogy, 76(2): 531-541.

Sillero-Zubiri, C. & Laurenson, M.K. (2001). Interactions between carnivores and local communities: conflict or co-existence? In: Carnivore conservation, pp. 282-312. Eds. J.L. Gittleman, S.M. Funk, D.W. Macdonald & R.K. Wayne. Zoological Society of London: London.

Sillero-Zubiri, C. & Macdonald, D.W. (Eds.) (1997). The Ethiopian wolf: status survey and conservation action plan. IUCN: Gland, Switzerland.

Sillero-Zubiri, C., Malcolm, J.R., Williams, S., Marino, J., Tefera Ashenafi, Z., Laurenson, M.K., Gottelli, D., Hood, A., Macdonald, D.W., Wildt, D. & Ellis, S. (2000). Ethiopian wolf conservation strategy workshop, Dinsho, Ethiopia. IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group and Conservation Breeding Specialist Group.

Sillero-Zubiri, C. & Marino, J. (2004). Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis). In: Canids: foxes, wolves, jackals and dogs. Status survey and action plan, pp. 167-174. Eds. C. Sillero-Zubiri, M. Hoffman & D.W. Macdonald. IUCN CSG: Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Sillero-Zubiri, C., Tattersall, F.H. & Macdonald, D.W. (1995). Bale mountains rodent communities and their relevance to the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis). African Journal of Ecology, 33: 301-320.

Stephens, P.A., d`Sa, C., Sillero-Zubiri, C. & Leader-Williams, N. (2001). Impact of livestock and settlement on the large mammalian wildlife of Bale Mountains National Park, southern Ethiopia. Biological Conservation, 100: 307-322.