Projects and Partners

What we do

The Dhole Conservation Fund works with a variety of different partners and projects. Our partners range from zoological institutes, NGOs, international societies, government agencies and individual researchers and conservationist. We work on many different areas of dhole conservation. Education and research are major focuses of our conservation research. We do prioritize are focuses on areas where dhole research or conservation are not well established. Although this does mean we work outside the dhole’s strong hold areas, the hope is to highlight the importance of these other areas and try and get a better picture of dhole ecology as a whole. Does this mean we won’t fund or work on projects inside the well-established areas? Of course not, especially if the project can yield results that can aid in helping out projects in other areas. This can be conflict resolution ideas, community outreach or field techniques.

History Timeline

2017: An idea and three years of planning and training with start up donation we became non-profit corporation in California.

2018: After working on mission statements and assembling a board with different backgrounds to best give the Fund the best chance at thriving we filed and received our 501.c.3. This allowed us to apply for grants and funding, but also help with giving tax deductible donation letters.

2018: Founder volunteers on a dhole research project in Thailand.

2018: Help fund a small local Thailand project. Help with the publication of a wild dhole photobook to be sold in nation parks to bring a better appreciation for these often-unknown dogs.

2019: Returned to Thailand to in provided input for the IUCN Dhole Population and Habitat Viability meeting. The week summit aided in figuring out not just habitat but also idea the conservation problems found for dholes. The problems were broken down by region and we tried to identify areas of greatest need. Dhole Conservation Fund was tasked with helping promote a more western awareness of dholes and their conservation needs and efforts.

2019: Funded the travel expenses of a researcher that was accepted to present their findings and paper in a conference in Europe.

2020: Launched the home and dhole information hub dholes.org. This current website allows for is to find and read information about dholes. While also allowing people easily find the Dhole Conservation Fund.

2020: COVID SHUT DOWN

2020: Through 2020 we waited to see what would happen globally. Up to this point we had been in talks with a few small projects throughout the dhole’s home range on their needs and ideas for dhole projects in their parks and region. Unfortunately, 2020 saw Covid-19 hit southeast Asia extremely hard. Field efforts halted. Towards the end of the year, we realized this was not going to blow over anytime soon and not sure when global travel and work would open up again we switched gears. We started to look into expanding our education beyond just our website.

2021: Hire professional conservation educators to develop programs for K to 12th grade levels that educators can do on their own in the classroom. We also opened up to do virtual presentations for all ages and levels.

2021: We celebrate our first World Dhole Day in the US.

2021: Team up with Amazing AZ animal books to help with content for The Dedicated Dhole.

2022: Gave out 20 copies of the Dedicated Dhole to zoos and wildlife education groups around the world.

2022: World Dhole Day turns into a true global event. Not only an increase effort in the US but it also moved into Europe!

IUCN Dhole Working Group

The Dhole Conservation Fund is not part of the IUCN Dhole Working Group but we do help them with their efforts and we get invited to participate in a few of their meetings. Many of our partners are part of the Dhole Working Group.

2023 the Dhole Working Group is looking to do an in-person meeting with one of the main goal is to update the IUCN Red List for dholes, last time it was done was 2015! The IUCN Red List is often considered the official count and conservation status excepted the world over.

To learn more about the Dhole Working Group click the learn more button or you can support the efforts by clicking the donate button.

Button to the IUCN Dhole Working Group Info Page

World Dhole Day Partners

The following partners help with promoting and educating people about dholes during the special World Dhole Day.

Zoo Miami
Minnesota Zoo
The Wilds
JAB Canid Conservation Center

Learn more about World Dhole Day and how to get involved find the days event page here.

Photo from ZooMiami WDD 2022

Future growth
Our second World Dhole Day in 2022 saw a lot of growth in the US and Europe. We tested out new educational and promotion products. With feedback from our partners, we hope to make these even better and then get them translated and distributed out to dhole range countries for future years of World Dhole Day. We hope to get some of the bigger organizations like WWF to also promote the day.

Field Partners

Dholes in Cambodia

The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation protects an 18,000 hectare concession in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia, the concession is home to many species and provides a vital corridor between Botum Sakor National Park and Southern Cardamoms National Park. While the Foundation’s primary concern is the elephants that use the corridor the rangers are under instruction to protect all species and camera trapping efforts have revealed a resident & breeding dhole population.

As elsewhere in their range the dhole are under threat from diseases carried into the forest by domesticated hunting dogs, at risk in any place where snares are set and are shot for being seen to compete with hunting parties. The concession itself is also at risk from illegal land grabbing which would increase the risk of disease transmission from any domestic dogs living with even a farming population and reduce the area available to dhole to hunt as well as create barriers to the concession's ability to function as a wildlife corridor.

The Foundation spends approximately US$60,000 per year keeping ranger teams in the field patrolling, removing snares and preventing hunting incursions and land grabbing. Additional funds would be used to study the dhole population in order to determine population size, preferred prey and ultimately better protect them.

Use the button to the right to make a direct donation to the Cambodia dhole program. We cover all fees to get the full funds directly to Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation.

You can visit their site at: www.helpingelephants.org

Dholes in Nepal

The Friends of Nature Nepal (FoN Nepal) currently have two projects going that we are helping fund one, both benefit dholes just in different ways. Here’s some info on both programs.

Annapurna Conservation Area - We have been working on Dhole research and conservation especially in Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) Nepal and we were able to camera trap a single dhole individual in 2016, which was the first photographic evidence of dholes after their regional extinction from the mid-hill regions of the country. Subsequent camera trap surveys recorded 4 dholes in 2 different locations of the study area indicating pack formation. The herders and farmers of the area believe that there are 2 packs with 7-9 individuals per pack. Since the local community of the area know about the presence of the species, there always is a risk of conflict, as dholes in the past were responsible to depredate livestock in the region (one of the primary reasons of retaliatory killings using carcass poisoning and persecution). To address these issues, we have organized various conservation awareness activities in the community and schools (especially in Sikles and Tangting villages), and capacity building trainings for alternative income generation and to decrease dependency in forest and forest produces. Now, given the success of these programs, and as an organization dedicated to conserve dholes, we have challenges to expand our research to other significant areas as well as to continue monitoring the species, their pack formation, movement pattern and so forth in the current study sites as well as conservation education in other nearby villages.

Ramaroshan Wetland Complex - Recently, we have discovered another significant and potential area for our next research, 'Ramaroshan wetland complex', which is a mid-hill wetland complex in Achham district of far west Nepal. The area is virgin, with wetlands, grasslands and subtropical to temperate forests extending from 1401 m to 3792 m elevation range and the complex is locally known as 12 bunda 18 khanda (meaning: 12 lakes and 18 meadows). Indirect surveys conducted in the area indicated presence of both dhole packs and conflicts. Along with Dholes, the area is home to Musk Deer, Asiatic Black Bear and Leopards. Since a detailed assessment hasn't been carried out, we are developing a project aiming to assess the biodiversity of the whole complex and to aware locals on conservation issues. For research purpose, we are planning to conduct camera trap survey and bio-acoustic survey along with transect surveys.

Use the button to the right to make a direct donation to the Nepal dhole program. We cover all fees to get the full funds directly to Friends of Nature Nepal.

You can visit their webpage at: Friends of Nature Nepal

Education Partners

We have been able to aid teacher in the classroom with our education lesson plans. The plans have been used by teachers of all grade levels, and we are always improving them with the feedback we receive. We also expanded our virtual presentations, doing on average 3 a month during the school year between 2021 and 2022. The presentations were from 3rd grade up to adults who were just interested in learning about a new species. All programs are free of charge to allow all accessibility to the material, this is all possible due to our amazing supporters and donors.

Pet Project

Like we don't have enough going on, we also have a side dhole project we are always working on.