Monday the 23rd February 2009 dawned like most mornings in the Pilanesberg. But for seven highly endangered Wild Dogs it was going to be rather different. It was time for them to be released from the holding boma and to take their place as arguably the most efficient predator in the African Bush.

After their extended stay in the boma we were not sure how eager the Wild Dogs would be to leave their place of safety. The plan was to use an Impala carcass to lure them out of the boma and then shut the gates behind them. Their last meal was on the previous Friday so we banked on their hunger to outweigh their natural distrust of anything out of the ordinary.

We where joined by several delegates from Sappi and Waltons who are supporters of the Pilanesberg Wildlife Trust and the Pilanesberg Wild Dog Project. We entered the boma to the excited twittering of the dogs and every one took up their positions.

We planned to tie the Impala carcass to the back of a vehicle and slowly drive out the open gate. Plan B was to dart all the dogs and then release them in the far West of the Park, this would not be ideal as we would have to monitor them intensely once they where offloaded and all would have to wake up and recover from the drugs at the same time to prevent the pack splintering in their confusion.

The carcass was offloaded from the vehicle and started to make its way towards the open gate. As expected the dogs where at first skeptical of this change in their routine but the females came to our aid. With them being raised in captivity they have always been more adventurous around people and they started to chase the food. Once they got hold of the leg of the carcass and started tugging at it the males realized that they where going to miss out and started to follow. The vehicle continued at a steady pace towards the gate engaged by now in a tug of war with five dogs.

Once out of the boma the vehicle stopped to allow them to feed but there was still one male suspiciously standing inside the boma staring at the open gate. Once the dogs outside started ripping open the carcass the remaining male inside ran out and also started feeding.

This was our queue to jump into action and we raced towards the gate, got off the vehicle and closed the gate.

During their time in the boma I had observed that after every meal they would run to their water hole and have a dip and drink. As the time for this part of their ritual approached I think it dawned on them what had happened as they ran up and down the fence trying to get to the water hole. Due to the good rains that the park has received this year there where several small puddles of water on the road that surrounds the boma and these became the new improvised water hole. The one catch with these puddles was that due to the vehicle activity around the Boma they had become more like mud baths than water holes and when the dogs returned they were all covered in mud and had lost their amazing patterns and colours.

After they has finished eating the pack of dogs started to head west and leave behind the carcass that would attract any competitive predators in the area, as well as the boma, their home for the last 12 months.

They spent the rest of the day lying up in a thicket about 1.5km from the boma escaping the heat of the day. Later on that afternoon they made a very welcome appearance on Tshukudu E Ntsu drive, and provided the first sighting of Wild Dogs in Pilanesberg for over a year.