Hartebeest move across the grassland

The dry golden grasses swayed elegantly in the breeze, stretching for miles as far as the eye could see. The air was hot and dusty as we scanned the horizon looking for telltale signs of animal movement among the grasses. At times the Serengeti National Park seemed to burst at the seams with wildlife—herds of zebra, cape buffalo, wildebeest, impala and all manner of other hoofed and winged species. Other times we drove for hours with barely a glimpse of these magnificent creatures. Wildlife was out there, no doubt, but camouflage is an amazing thing.

Full story »

Anna, Medi and Chunde wave in front of their ailing vehicle.

“Gari imearibika kabisa” (the car has broken down completely)…words you never want to hear when you’re on a lonely stretch of road in the middle of the Serengeti with no telephone signal.

Full story »

Anna (left) and Chunde (crouching at right) visit the class at Nangale Village Primary School. Notice the One World Futbol in the center!

Today, Chunde and I took a tiny break from dog data collection to have some fun visiting the Nangale Village Primary School. Every year, we visit schools in all of our four study villages to teach children about rabies awareness and wound treatment as well as encourage children to stay in school. Raising awareness about rabies is extremely important, especially for children, as children are most frequently the victims of dog bites and rabies due to their increased contact with dogs.

Full story »

Dog researchers from around the world came to York to share their findings at the First International Conference on Dog Population Management.

I recently experienced three glorious days of “dog populations around the world” while in York, United Kingdom for the First International Conference on Dog Population Management. Clearly, I’m not alone in my fascination with dogs, particularly when they may pose a public health and/or conservation concern, as there was a whole conference organized to share thoughts and current research about this!

Full story »

Some very helpful children from the Nyanda family and their pups.

We have wrapped up dog data collection in our first village, Buyubi Village! Chunde, my field assistant, and I have been here for about a month rechecking dogs we marked in 2010 and 2011. We’re studying these dogs because dogs in rural Tanzania can transmit diseases such as rabies to people and wildlife. Lincoln Park Zoo has been coordinating a successful dog rabies vaccination program, and we need to know now whether the dog population is increasing due to the vaccinations.

Full story »