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The conservation projects
One of the four main aims of the UK Wolf Conservation Trust is to raise money to help fund wolf-related conservation projects around the world.
To date, nearly £300,000 has been donated by the Trust to a variety of projects around the world, from Kazahkstan and Ethiopia to Iran and the USA.
Since 2007 the UKWCT has donated
more than £49,000 to the Ethiopian
Wolf Conservation Programme
(EWCP), which has been working for
the conservation of Ethiopian wolves
(Canis simensis) and the Afroalpine
habitat for the past two decades.
The Ethiopian wolf, which is critically
endangered, is found only in Ethiopia
and its survival is closely linked to
the persistence of healthy Afroalpine
ecosystems. It is one of the world’s
most threatened species and is Africa’s
most endangered carnivore. It is
found in seven isolated habitats in the
Ethiopian highlands, above 3,500m.
EWCP is based out of the Bale
Mountains National Park in south-
eastern Ethiopia, from where seven
wolf monitors work in the field following
the wolves and collecting data on
their behaviour, breeding success and
health. The team also comprises more
than 30 local people, including research
ssistants, education and outreach
officers and veterinary officers.
For the last five years the UKWCT
has provided funding to the
Friends of Nature in Kathmandu
to aid its data collection on wolves
in the area.
Little is known about the
distribution of wolves in Nepal and
there is no baseline information on
their status, behaviour, population
estimates and range.
It is hoped that the information
collected will help assess the
status of grey wolf in the proposed
study area, identify and document
the prevalent threats to the wolves
and document the
ethno-wolf relation in the area.
The UKWCT has been working
with the Wolf Advocating
Company since 2006, providing
nearly £45,000 in funding in
that time.
In some parts of Russia, a bounty
is offered for every hunted wolf.
What the hunter then does with
that wolf is up to them, so Vladimir
Bologov has made it his mission
to try to rescue wolf pups, rear
them and return them to the wild.
His work also includes research
on wolf ecology, wolf control
methods and aspects of the wolf/
human conflict. The group works
out of the Central Forest Nature
Reserve and the Biological Station
Chisty Les, which also now
includes an education centre, built
with the help of funds from the
UKWCT.
An area of 12,000 hectares
around the biological station now
has protected status.
Donations from the UKWCT,
amounting to £11,000 since 2014,
are helping to support the French
project, CanOvis.
It is studying the effectiveness
of using livestock guardian dogs
(LDGs) to deter wolves in an
area in the south east of the
country, including the mountains
of Mercantour and the Canjeurs
Plateau.
The project, which began three
years ago, has already collected
a great deal of data using GPS
collars to track LGDs and sheep.
It is hoped the research will
improve the training of LGDs and
increase their efficiency as sheep
protectors.
ETHIOPIA
NEPAL
RUSSIA
FRANCE
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Pictures: p13 Tsa and Roger Palmer with Quatro
Tsa and Roger with their children Zannah, Lara and
Johnny, and wolves Kodiak and Kenai.
Left: Tsa today with Mai, picture: Phil Cannings