Saving the Ethiopian

wolf

In the remote highlands of Ethiopia lives the rarest canid on Earth: the Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis). Today, less than 450 of these elegant animals survive. We find out why and discover the methods in place to save this species from the brink.

Photos by Will Burrard-Lucas

Native to the Ethiopian Highlands, the Ethiopian wolf is similar to the coyote in size and build, but can be distinguished by its long and narrow skull, and its red and white fur. Unlike most other large dogs, which are widespread, generalist feeders,

the Ethiopian wolf is highly specialized, feeding on Afroalpine rodents with very specific habitat requirements. It is one of the world’s rarest canids, and Africa’s most endangered carnivore.

Ethiopian wolves may look like foxes or jack-als but DNA analysis shows that their closest relatives are actually the grey wolves of Eu-rope. 100,000 years ago, a common ancestor of both the grey wolf and the Ethiopian wolf moved down from Europe into Africa.

It came across an Afroalpine habitat that teemed with rodents. Its descendants stopped hunting in packs and became rodent-hunting specialists. The species evolved to become completely dependent on this abundant prey source.

Ethiopian wolves are solitary hunters unlike many of their

other canine relatives.

At the end of the last ice age, the Afroalpine areas receded and the wolves became marooned in a few isolated mountain high-land areas surrounding the Great Rift Valley. Now the wolves’ high-altitude sanctuaries are under siege from an ever-increas-ing human population and the species has been brought to the edge of extinction.

The species’ current range is limited to seven isolated mountain ranges at altitudes of 3,000–4,500m, with the overall adult pop-ulation estimated at 360-440 individuals in 2011, more than half of them in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian wolf is listed as Endangered by the IUCN, on account of its small numbers and fragmented range. Threats include increasing pres-sure from expanding human populations, resulting in habitat degradation through overgrazing and disease transference from free ranging dogs.

Its conservation is headed by Oxford University’s Ethiopian Wolf Con-servation Programme (EWCP), which seeks to protect wolves through vaccination and community outreach programs.

NPL photographer Will Burrard-Lucas travelled with fellow photographer Rebecca Jackrel to the Bale Mountains, home to the largest remaining wolf population, with the aim of photographing the wolves and documenting the work of the EWCP.

During their trip they wrote a blog detailing the events and their experiences.

Photo credit: Rebecca Jackrel

Wolves in the Web Valley - blog extractRebecca Jackrel

“At first glance the landscape is barren, lifeless but a closer inspection tells a different story. Thousands of rodents scurry between holes, one eye on the ground for titbits and one eye on the sky. The rats need to be ever-vigilant because the wolves aren’t the only predators around… high on the cliff tops sharp eyed Augur buzzards watch and wait for a chance at a tasty meal.

Mole rats are about 1kg in size with huge in-cisors and impressive eyebrows. We’re never quite certain where they will pop up but when they do, they rarely stray more than a meter from their hole. I’ve yet to see one run forwards but they are extremely speedy in reverse! Trying to photograph one is an elaborate game of whack-a-mole, up-down-up-down. An Ethiopian wolf needs to eat around 3 giant mole rats daily or 5-6 grass rats, and there are plenty left over – the sheer density of rodents is astounding.”

Cape eagle-owl Tawny eagle Augur buzzard

Giant mole-rat

“It should be noted that Will developed a rather wolf-like obsession with the rats in camp. He is relentless in his quest for the perfect photograph of these lovable burrowers.”

Rebecca Jackrel, blog extract

“Our days begin with a 4:30am wakeup call and the challenge of getting out of a nice warm sleeping bag to face the -5˚C (23˚F) frost covered day. We are very lucky to have our cook Mamoush who keeps us well supplied with coffee and warm oatmeal before we head out across the valley in search of a den site, the closest is about 35 minutes away across rugged, rocky and often wet terrain – that is if we don’t get stuck in the mud enroute… twice so far.

When we arrive at the den site all is usually quiet. The sky begins to turn a beautiful shade of pink as our guide Muzeyen, one of EWCP’s wolf monitors, hops out to scout.”

Pack resting together

“Shortly after the sun begins to warm the landscape, the wolves wake and begin to stretch. The pups often ambush the adults, spinning summersaults and acrobatics until the poor adult has had just about enough. A quick baring of teeth quells the pups long enough for the adult to move out of reach before the bouncing and tum-bling begins anew. All members of the pack care for the pups and it’s heart-warm-ing to see the greeting each adult receives when they return from patrol.”

Pups playing

“At around 9am the light begins to get harsh and we head back to camp. Downloading, backing up, playing with the mole rats and grass rats, lunch and then we head out again. The pack members tend to return and call the pups out from the den about an hour before sunset. We shoot until there isn’t any light left, pushing our cameras to the limits of their ISO.”

Despite the wolves’ solitary hunting habits, they are actually very sociable animals and form packs just like their grey wolf cousins. Will’s trip coincided with denning season and he was able to see firsthand how all members of the pack worked closely together to feed and care for the alpha female’s pups.

“It was a wonderful privilege to witness the pups exploring the outside world for the first time and to watch them grow in strength and confidence each day.”

Only the dominant female breeds, but all pack members guard the den, chase potential predators, and regurgitate or carry rodent prey to feed the pups. Subordinate females may assist the dominant female in suckling the pups. By week 10, the pups subsist almost entirely on solid foods supplied by helpers, and they stop receiving food from adults when they are around one year old.

Male bringing food to pup

Female bringing food to male

“When we finally concede that it’s too dark to shoot we return to camp for more downloading and dinner. If we have any energy after that it’s outside for star trails.

The skies are amazingly bright with no light pollution. After that it’s time for bed and repeat!”

The people of the Ethiopian highlands are predominately goat and cattle herders. As they encroach on the wolves’ habitat, overgrazing and soil compaction drastically reduces the densi-ty of the wolves’ rodent prey. The herders also keep domestic dogs to help protect their animals from leopards and hyenas.

These dogs lead semi-feral lives and often come into contact with the wolves. This is a problem because the dogs can easily transmit diseases such as rabies and canine distemper virus (CDV) to the wolves. Two rabies outbreaks in 2008 and 2009 plus a CDV outbreak in 2010 resulted in 26% of the wolves in the Bale Mountains disappearing. If the wolf population doesn’t have time to recover between disease outbreaks then impending extinction becomes a real possibility.

“One thing we weren’t quite prepared for was the sheer number of domestic dogs. We knew they were a huge problem as disease vectors but even in the remote Web Valley we see between 8-12 different dogs a day!!

Apparently the seasonal pastoralists don’t even like the dogs but they need them as alarms in case hyena or leopard try to attack their herds of goats or cattle which were also far more numerous than we were expecting.”

Wolf Catch and Release - blog extract, Will Burrard-Lucas

“One of the most immediate threats facing the Ethiopian wolf is disease, particularly rabies; in 2008 a rabies outbreak killed 70% of the wolves in the Bale Mountains. The remaining animals were saved by an emergency injectable vaccination programme which was time consuming and unsustainable as the population begins to rebound. As a result the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme is trialling an oral rabies vaccine on the Tarura pack.

Approximately three weeks before our visit EWCP administered oral rabies vaccines to as many of the pack members as possi-ble. The next phase involved trapping the wolves, taking blood (so that they could check that the antibodies were present), tagging and releasing them. If a wolf was caught that had not taken the oral vaccine then blood was taken for a baseline and the wolf received an injectable vaccination before being re-leased. Claudio Sillero, founder and director of the EWCP was overseeing the process and of course we were on hand to document it!

Trapping an animal that is as intelligent as a wolf is not easy. Goat meat was used to tempt the wolves in to a small en-closed area where concealed foot traps were laid. The aim is for a wolf to approach the bait and step on one of the foot-traps, which would then close around its leg and stop it from escaping. Six traps were set up in the heart of the Tarura pack’s territory. Every 3 hours, day and night, for four days the traps were checked. This was a particularly arduous task in the freez-ing cold, pitch-black nights!”

“First to be caught were the inexperienced sub-adult (1 year old) wolves. In total, three sub-adults were caught. Only two adults were caught, the others were simply too canny and wary to be lured in by the traps.

When a wolf is found in a trap, a radio call is made to base camp. A whole multitude of people then scramble into a couple of Land Rovers and rush over to the wolf. First of all a blanket is thrown over the wolf’s head which instantly calms it down. A vet then sedates the wolf and takes blood samples. The wolf is ear-tagged, weighed, measured and checked for injuries. After less than 15 minutes the wolf is ready to be woken up and released.”

“Often it turned out that the wolf is a recapture. In this scenario, the team simply checked the wolf was un-hurt and then released it. Since these wolves were not groggy from the effects of the sedative, when they were released they explode off at a spectacular pace!”

“It was fascinating to witness the efforts being made at the forefront of the fight to save the Ethiopian wolf.

The team were satisfied with the number of animals that they were able to administer the oral vaccine to, and subsequently collect data from. Hopefully the trial will prove successful and a wide-scale vaccina-tion can take place which will help make the wolves’ future a little bit more secure.”

Emergency Intervention 2014

Since Will’s trip in 2011 there has sadly been another rabies outbreak. The first wolf carcass was found in Bale in July 2014, and since then the EWCP has worked tirelessly to contain the spread of rabies and to minimize its awful impacts.

In Ethiopia field teams led by Eric Bedin (EWCP Field Coordinator) implemented four intensive wolf vaccination campaigns, and many domestic dogs were vaccinated in surrounding villages.

The intervention was the most intensive in the his-tory of EWCP, reaching 21 wolf packs and protect-ing 106 wolves, around a third of the whole Bale population. In the Sanetti Plateau, a prime wolf area and the epicenter of the outbreak, more than half of all the wolves are now vaccinated.

The analyses of demographic data will give a bet-ter idea of the overall mortality, but as far as they know, no wolf family has gone extinct during this epizootic. This is a great achievement, supported by the targeted vaccination strategy, aimed at protecting the dominant pair in each pack, thus ensuring social stability and successful breeding.

The EWCP are continuing to closely monitor the wolf population using new technology to help them map not only the whereabouts of each wolf family, but also to map the spread of the disease which enabled them to vaccinate in a targeted and effective way during the recent outbreak.

The Ethiopian wolf may be the most endangered carnivore in Africa but the EWCP are not giving up without a fight!

For more information or to enquire about licensing these images please contact

laurasutherland@naturepl.com

To see all the images from this collection search‘Burrard-Lucas Ethiopia’