 |
| Kaleb |
After a very chilly winter, summer has finally arrived in Namibia. However, as the temperature heats up, the insects have come out to play, causing problems for our wild dogs, Kaleb and Liska.
The biggest pest for carnivores during the hot summer season is horse flies which plague the dogs by burrowing deep into their fur and biting into their skin. It seems ironic that such small insects can cause our strong wild dogs such discomfort!
The only way to rid them of the flies and insects is to spray flea repellent onto the big dogs. We use Frontline which not only kills the flies on the animals but prevents re-infestation. Using a standard sized spray bottle, we lure the dogs with pieces of meat so they come close enough to us that we can spray them. Now they have been treated they seem much happier!
 |
| Liska |
In addition, we are having to re-fill their waterhole on a weekly basis because of the dry weather. Kaleb and Liska bathe in their waterhole a lot and therefore soak up a lot of water in the strong African heat. Unfortunately we don't have a water pipe which would enable us to fill it up from outside the camp, so we carry in large water canisters and fill it up manually.
 |
| Wildlife Co-ordinator Stu cleaning out the dirty waterhole before re-filling with fresh water |
 |
| Kaleb and Liska |
Even though Kaleb and Liska have been in captivity their whole life we suspect they may still have some of their "wild" instincts. Just the other day Wildlife Co-ordinator Jo spotted some white bird feathers floating around just outside the wild dogs' camp. There were no remains of the bird other than feathers but it is likely that our dogs may have had an extra lunch that day.
 |
| Liska |
 |
| Liska |
 |
| Kaleb and Liska |
No comments:
Post a Comment