African wild dogs are among Africa's most endangered large carnivores, facing threats from disease, habitat fragmentation, and human conflict.
African wild dogs caught in snares suffer from the severe injuries that snares cause - wire cutting into limbs, causing progressive tissue death if the animal cannot escape or be found. Dogs that die slowly from snare injuries may spend days in extreme pain. Distemper and rabies cause horrible deaths in affected pack members. Road mortality causes traumatic death and leaves dependent pups without parents. The social complexity of African wild dog packs means that losing key individuals - particularly the dominant breeding pair - can cause pack dissolution and the death of dependent offspring. Conservation success protects both individual welfare and the remarkable social bonds of pack life.