ZIMPARKS is fretting over wild animals overpopulation in the country, saying this is badly affecting vegetation.
Tinashe Farawo, ZimParks spokesperson, in an interview with The Zambezi Times, said wild animals overpopulation is a huge headache for the organisation.
Said Farawo: ‘We have a problem were generally our animals are over populated.
“Not only the wild dogs but other animals. We have your lions, elephants and buffaloes. The numbers are too much and they have a negative impact on vegetation. In short, we are losing our habitat. In fact, the biggest threat to our animals is the loss of habitat.”
Zimbabwe’s national parks are renowned world over for their fauna and flora.
Hwange National Park, is one of the few parks in the globe to house the famous Big 5, that is the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino.
But there have been reports that the numbers of wild animals have exceeded the carrying capacity, thus increasing human and animals conflicts.
Turning to wild dogs, also known as painted dogs, Farawo said the numbers of the animals have gone down in the country because of lack of habitat.
“We still have a significant number of wild dogs in Zimbabwe. In fact, we have one of the highest numbers but they have gone down and primarily it is because of number of reasons,” said Farawo.
“One, loss of habitat. Two, competition with other predators, lions, hyenas and many others. So, at the end of the day there is no habitat and food so definitely the numbers will go down.
“For example, a wild dog might have 7 puppies, but only one will survive and the rest will be eaten by lions, hyenas and all these things contribute to the low numbers.”
There have been reports that painted dogs face extinction.
Wild dogs, are actually not dogs at all, but represent an evolutionary line of their own that is unique to the African Continent.
At the turn of the century, Africa had a population of 500 000 painted dogs in 39 countries.
But, systematic bounty hunting, poachers’ snares, road kills and poor land management has decimated the dog population.
Today there are 7000 dogs and Zimbabwe has 1% of them, that is around 200 wild dogs.
