Welcome to Dholes.org
The home to all things Dhole and The Dhole Conservation Fund
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What we've been up to
December 8, 2021
Dear Supporters,
Sorry for not getting out a summer update. We have been busy working on a few things. With everything slowly returning to normal we are optimistic that in 2022 we will be able to scout and find new on the ground projects. Much of the home range for dholes were hit hard by Covid-19 so it might take some time to get the ground work going. There is also the on-going issue of finding local governments and communities interested in protecting dholes when they have bigger issues to deal with both on a local and global scale. This can be overcome, and we hope that we can encourage a few communities to participate in dhole conservation.
We are still working on our education sector for dholes. We are excited for the opportunities these programs can create in the classroom and help mold the minds of future generations. These programs the teacher will be able to do themselves and engage their students in interactive activities that highlight things like genetics, ecology and of course conservation. The hope is that some of these programs will be able to be used in the core curriculum to help students and teachers learn about ecosystems outside the ones in their current country. We were lucky enough to team up with amazing zoo educators and teachers alike to develop these programs.
On the heels of promoting education, we realize one of the biggest institutions for providing wildlife conservation learning outside of the media would be zoos. Currently there are only 47 institutions that have dholes and participate in global breeding programs. Right now, in our home base country of the US there are only 5 zoos that have them, and only on display in 4. Their numbers over the last few years in the US have been dropping. The main problem is genetics, which can be helped with imports from Europe. But the other big hurdle is a lack of interest. We think the lack of interest isn’t so much because dholes are not interesting, but mainly, like most of the general population most zoo officials have not yet learned what a dhole is. We are launching a PR campaign to try and get more support for dholes in the North American zoo population. This could mean more opportunity for people to see and learn about dholes, but also zoos tend to support wild conservation projects for animals they have. This could mean greater future interest in dhole research and better funding. A win, win for the species. Would new dhole genetics deplete from the wild population? No. These are dholes already in zoos in Europe that are just not related to the ones here in the states.
The last thing we are working on is bringing back our Drinks 4 Dholes fundraiser. It will be held in San Diego, CA around World Dhole Day, May 28th! See our Dhole Day page for more info. If you are interested in holding your own event on that day let us know we would love to help in any way we can.
Thank you to all our supporters who have helped us get through the last two years, it’s been rough. But we are looking to come back stronger than ever.
Sincerely,
Chelsea Davis
Chelsea@dholes.org
Dear Supporters,
Sorry for not getting out a summer update. We have been busy working on a few things. With everything slowly returning to normal we are optimistic that in 2022 we will be able to scout and find new on the ground projects. Much of the home range for dholes were hit hard by Covid-19 so it might take some time to get the ground work going. There is also the on-going issue of finding local governments and communities interested in protecting dholes when they have bigger issues to deal with both on a local and global scale. This can be overcome, and we hope that we can encourage a few communities to participate in dhole conservation.
We are still working on our education sector for dholes. We are excited for the opportunities these programs can create in the classroom and help mold the minds of future generations. These programs the teacher will be able to do themselves and engage their students in interactive activities that highlight things like genetics, ecology and of course conservation. The hope is that some of these programs will be able to be used in the core curriculum to help students and teachers learn about ecosystems outside the ones in their current country. We were lucky enough to team up with amazing zoo educators and teachers alike to develop these programs.
On the heels of promoting education, we realize one of the biggest institutions for providing wildlife conservation learning outside of the media would be zoos. Currently there are only 47 institutions that have dholes and participate in global breeding programs. Right now, in our home base country of the US there are only 5 zoos that have them, and only on display in 4. Their numbers over the last few years in the US have been dropping. The main problem is genetics, which can be helped with imports from Europe. But the other big hurdle is a lack of interest. We think the lack of interest isn’t so much because dholes are not interesting, but mainly, like most of the general population most zoo officials have not yet learned what a dhole is. We are launching a PR campaign to try and get more support for dholes in the North American zoo population. This could mean more opportunity for people to see and learn about dholes, but also zoos tend to support wild conservation projects for animals they have. This could mean greater future interest in dhole research and better funding. A win, win for the species. Would new dhole genetics deplete from the wild population? No. These are dholes already in zoos in Europe that are just not related to the ones here in the states.
The last thing we are working on is bringing back our Drinks 4 Dholes fundraiser. It will be held in San Diego, CA around World Dhole Day, May 28th! See our Dhole Day page for more info. If you are interested in holding your own event on that day let us know we would love to help in any way we can.
Thank you to all our supporters who have helped us get through the last two years, it’s been rough. But we are looking to come back stronger than ever.
Sincerely,
Chelsea Davis
Chelsea@dholes.org
