African wild dog escape in the West Midlands Safari Park and what are they going to do?

African wild dog are some of the most efficient hunters on the planet. Significantly smaller than lion or leopard, often even than cheetah, African wild dogs are astoundingly efficient when they come to hunting, with one of the highest percentage success rates in the animal kingdom. Due to their need for huge reserves, to have a viable population, it is not unusual for them to spread into unprotected land.

12 of the African wild dogs in the West Midlands Safari Park got out of their enclosure. Before they could be caught, they had killed six Persian Fallow deer and 10 Barbary sheep. Their escape was not down to negligence or incompetence, but down to storm Clara.

Wild dogs are small predators compared to Lions or Leopards, but are highly effective. They have a higher success rate than any other savannah top predator. Although in the wild they would run if approached by humans, when escaped from a zoo they will be scared and so their behaviour would be unpredictable

However because of this need for large amounts of space they are seriously endangered. This means that more than many other animals In order to ensure their long-term survival as substantial population of captive wild dogs need to be built up in case they need to be reintroduced to the wild.

It should be noted that despite the damage, the wild dog whenever anywhere they were capable of attacking people. It should also be noted That generally wild dog are not a danger to humans.

Due to their need for large areas of land, there is only thought to be about 1400 wild dog left in the whole of Africa.

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