background on the Dhole Working Group and the IUCN listing

​The Asiatic wild dog ‘dhole’ Cuon alpinus is an endangered large canid that inhabits forest habitats of south and southeast Asia. Dhole populations currently occur in 11 countries, with most populations found in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand (Kamler et al. 2015). While the exact global population of the dhole remains unknown, reasonable guesstimates suggest that there may be 4500–10000 individuals left, of which 1000–2000 are adult, mature individuals capable of reproducing. The IUCN is tasked with periodically issuing the conservation status of species as part of the Red List assessment. This assessment generally serves as the single most comprehensive source of information for species, including distribution range, population size, threats, in-situ and ex-situ status, country- or region-wise conservation interventions and gaps in current knowledge. The most recent IUCN Red List assessment for dholes was released in 2015. 
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​During the 2015 assessment, the IUCN Dhole Working Group (DWG) was also reconstituted, involving key members from the group of Red List assessors. The DWG has since been very active, holding regular meetings to discuss the state of knowledge, facilitating cross-country research collaborations, planning fund-raising opportunities for dhole conservation, and forging partnerships across stake-holder groups. The first in-person meeting of the DWG took place in February 2019, in Thailand; the main goals of the meeting were to (1) bring together dhole experts from all range countries and compile the latest information on dhole biology, research, conservation and outreach, and (2) work towards a Population and Habitat Viability Assessment of dholes across their distribution range (Kao et al. 2020).

Group photo from the 2019 in person

​Since 2015, there has been substantial increase in global interest for dhole research and conservation, as seen in the number of projects, peer-reviewed publications, fund support and outreach activities planned and executed, with dhole as the focal species. The accumulation of new knowledge, the need for rationalizing current expertise, and streamlining future programs focused on dholes therefore warrant a knowledge-sharing exercise that can benefit scientific research on, as well as conservation of the species. In Spring 2023, the DWG seeks to meet in-person to achieve these broad objectives with the central agenda targeted towards revising and updating the IUCN Red List for dhole.

Meeting goals and objective

1.) The primary goal of the meeting is to bring together the working group members and identified dhole researchers, conservationists, domain- and country-experts to share the latest information available on the species to draft an updated Red List Assessment

2.) The meeting will be used as a platform to discuss and draft Dhole National Conservation Plans for four countries, viz., Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand and India. Country-specific experts will discuss and deliberate on the pathways, opportunities and barriers in implementing such Conservation Plans in their respective countries.​

3.) ​The DWG will continue facilitating collaborative science (see Punjabi et al. 2022). In this current iteration, the members will begin discussions on synthesizing global datasets, identify knowledge gaps and working towards two scientific papers; one on dhole disease ecology, and the second on human–dhole interactions and conflict mitigation.

Photo by Phanakorn Kraomklang

4.) ​The event will also include the quarterly meeting of DWG, aimed at assessing the status of tasks set forth in the previous year, planning for tasks during 2023-24, discussing current membership, exploring membership opportunities for country- and domain-experts, and outlining an agenda for project-specific as well as general fund-raising to support dhole projects through engagement with zoos.

Why is funding needed

Attendance would be those in the DWG and those invited by the group to limit the number of attendances. The smaller group allows for all important areas to be properly discussed.
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Funding for the meeting goes not to the logistical cost of getting a conference of this size going, but also to make sure that all in the working group are able to attend without worrying about negatively impacting them financially. Dhole research often on the side of other conservation research. This means that its rare for a researcher to have their travel and accommodations paid for to attend this in person dhole conference. 

what are you supporting 

​By supporting this conference, you are helping create the following outcomes that will done at the conferance. 

• First draft of the Red List status update for dhole (to be completed by end of 2023), this would replace the 2015 listing. Click here to read the current Red List status for dholes. 
• Draft proposals for Dhole National Conservation Plans for Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand and India. Currently no country has a conservation plan on how to best help dholes and how to aid in their conservation and management. 
• Working Group quarterly meeting updates, the first time the group will meet in person since 2019.

• Two manuscripts for papers pertaining to dhole disease ecology and human-dhole interactions, co-authored by DWG members and other experts.

References
Kamler, J.F., Songsasen, N., Jenks, K., Srivathsa, A., Sheng, L., Kunkel, K., 2015. Cuon alpinus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e. T5953A72477893.
Kao, J., N. Songsasen, K. Ferraz and K. Traylor-Holzer (Eds.) 2020. Range-wide Population and Habitat Viability Assessment for the Dhole, Cuon alpinus. IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group, Apple Valley, MN, USA.
Punjabi, G. A., Havmøller, L. W., Havmøller, R. W., Ngoprasert, D., & Srivathsa, A. (2022). Methodological approaches for estimating populations of the endangered dhole Cuon alpinus. PeerJ, 10, e12905.