A bio-fence breakthrough

In an effort to establish a viable new population of wild dogs (an endangered species), a pack was released in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana in April 2008. Before their release, researcher Craig Jackson from The Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria placed hundreds of scent markings and scats (droppings) from other wild dogs on the perimeter of the unfenced reserve. The idea, dreamt up by Dr Tico McNutt of the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust, was that the released dogs would interpret this as the start of another pack’s territory and keep within the reserve (safe from any human threat – there’s a hunting concession to the north, and communities keeping cattle and goats on another boundary) despite the lack of fencing.

While there was only a single line of markings the plan didn’t work, but once this ‘bio-boundary’ was reinforced by additional markings beyond the line, the wild dogs remained within the reserve. This is the first time it’s been done. Establishing and maintaining the biofence is labour intensive, so researchers are trying to identify the active components of the scent marks, with a view to producing an artifical scent marker. Next time you’re on pooper-scooping duty, spare a thought for the researchers...

Photo: Creative Commons/Jeff Kubina