The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) has announced that a pack of five African wild dogs were released into Somkhanda Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu Natal on November 29. 
The pack comprises two males from Zimanga Private Game Reserve in KZN and three females from Madikwe Game Reserve in North West. 
The animals had been temporarily held in the predator boma at Somkhanda since August  12 to allow them to bond into a pack and become habituated to the area. Somkhanda Game Reserve is the ninth reserve to reintroduce wild dogs in South Africa.  
“All five wild dogs are doing well and have been seen hunting and moving through their new home as a united pack,” said David Marneweck, EWT’s Carnivore Conservation Programme Field Officer. “This is a great day for wild dog conservation in South Africa as we attempt to re-establish populations of this endangered species. With consistently fewer than 450 wild dogs in South Africa, it is crucial to form new packs and introduce them in to new reserves to increase the number of functional packs, expand the range of wild dogs and promote their status.”  
The project is a collaboration of several organisations – Wildlands Conservation Trust, WildlifeACT, UmPhafa Private Nature Reserve, Madikwe Private Game Reserve and Zimanga Private Game Reserve – under the umbrella of the national Wild Dog Advisory Group of South Africa and the KZN Wild Dog Advisory Group.