Wildlife Research

Wildlife Research projects are designed for the Wild Horizons Trust to find sustainable ways to protect wildlife such as the elephants. These projects incorporate ways of releasing animals and finding solutions to the human wildlife conflicts that develop in the community.  

 

 

 
Update of the Long-term Release of Domesticated Elephant

In July 2008, we documented the release of Damiano, who had been a part of the Wild Horizons elephant family for more than 10 years. Then in November 2009 we assisted with translocating, and releasing nine elephant back into the wild in Hwange National Park. Now, in May 2010 we are about to release Jack another bull elephant that is also ready to be returned to the wild...More

Hwange Wildlife Collaring

Wild Horizons Wildlife Trust is very excited to be involved in a mass wildlife collaring project in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.  The project is being coordinated by Dr. Herve Fritz who is attached to Lyon University and the CNRS (Centre Nationale Recherche Scientifique). The main aim of this project is to look at the relationships between prey and predators and to see how the spatial distribution of the different animals depends on each other.  Mr. Roger Parry and Mrs. Jessica Dawson of the Wild Horizons Wildlife Trust will be taking in a team of pre-veterinary field assistants to participate with darting and collaring of the animals. More

Reality Hits Home

Early in a morning late in May, the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit (VFAPU) was patrolling around Victoria Falls town, near the boundary of Zambezi National Park.  The game scouts came across a horrendous snare line that told a story of terror and pain.  Entangled in one snare were the remains of a buffalo carcass. The snare line was a few days old, and a young buffalo had gotten caught early on and was strangled to death.  Shortly thereafter, two male lions came to feed on the buffalo carcass as it was an easy meal.  While feeding, one of these young male lions also then got caught with a wire snare around his neck.  More... PLEASE NOTE: IMAGES NOT SUITABLE FOR SENSITIVE VIEWERS

Chili Pepper as Elephant Deterrent
The residents in and around Victoria Falls are used to seeing elephant in town throughout the yearr. However, this year the sheer number of elephant that are coming into the high density areas and some of the rural areas around town is unprecedented. Unfortunately, the elephant are not moving away from the town when normal techniques are employed to try and scare the elephant away. In an effort to try and move the elephant away from human settlements before either a person or elephant gets hurt or killed, WHWT is working together with National Parks using chili pepper guns to move the elephant. Click here to read more!