Isdore Guvamombe Features Editor
TO many villagers in Chief Nekatambe’s area in Hwange, poverty is as common and definite as the sun rising from the east and setting in the west. Everyday villagers wake up and as soon as they shake off the lethargy of sleep, domestic chores

beckon. Driven by the ancient rhythm of life to survive, each brain pre-occupies itself with family food security.
Grass-thatched huts totter with age, their mud-and-pole walls leaning backwards, with a little door that looks like the mouth of a village idiot.

More often than not, the thatch is dark brown with age, the weather and soot from fires forever lit inside.
Unlike in Mashonaland, the roofs are uncharacteristically low-hanging and the eaves almost obscure the doorway. The roofs are supported by several large, smooth wooden poles evenly distributed around the perimeter of the hut, itself the fecund of deforestation.

The tarred highway from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls twists like a serpent, demarcating the communal lands to the east and Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe’s perfect theatre of the jungle, to the west.
Here, at dawn as the first shafts of sun colour the fluffy grass heads rippling across the savannah plains in a russet hue, you could be lucky to see ghostly figures of painted dogs. With the rising of the sun you can see irregular, mottled coats which feature patches of red, black, brown, white and yellow fur.

On close inspection, each animal has its own unique coat pattern, and all have big, round ears.
In the park wildlife abounds and to the untrained eye, wildlife is meat, nothing more nothing less, yet to the trained eye, wildlife can bring more fortunes than condemning it to frothing pots.

This is a tale of two places.
In the communal lands meat is a signature for any relish to endorse a meal as sumptuous but has not only become a luxury but at times as too near yet equally too distant as the sun or the moon.  Since time immemorial, poaching has been a preoccupation for many.

Livestock in the form of cattle, goats and chicken are a symbol of wealth, but due to proximity with the wilderness, each death at the hands of a predator has been erroneously attributed to the painted dog, yet it could have been a hyena or lion.
Since Rhodesian times deep-rooted perceptions against the painted dog as a predator led to a cruel shooting order, that allowed farmers to kill the dog on sight,

leaving the dog on the brink of extinction.

Today Zimbabwe remains with slightly more than 750 dogs and the world has a few thousands left, courtesy of the shoot and kill mentality.
Yet today, in the poorer of the poorest communities in Zimbabwe, in Hwange, the painted dog has served and saved lives. The painted dog has brought community development projects, cash and life itself. The painted dog has become life itself, courtesy of the Painted Dog Conservancy, a private voluntary organisation.

As the African wild dog, also called Cape hunting dog or painted dog, mhumhi in Shona and iganyane in Ndebele, typically roams the open plains and sparse woodlands of vast swathes of land in Matabeleland North, and so do roam a multifarious array of the community development projects that have flowed to the adjacent communal lands. The projects are going measure for measure with the poverty that has haunted the villagers since time immemorial.

The Painted Dog Conservancy, located a spitting distance from the main entrance to Hwange National Park, was formed more than a decade ago, specifically to protect the wild dog. It has struck a striking balance between conservation and community development to an extent that the project has cemented the community together.

Through its contacts in the form of volunteers, the conservancy has brought to the community HIV and Aids-combating projects and to date more than 1 500 people have been introduced to anti-retroviral therapy. One shudders to think where they would have been now, had it not been for the painted dog?
More than 6 000 pupils have undergone conservation training at the Iganyane Children’s Bush camp.

Several boreholes have been drilled in communities and to them are tied communal gardens where villagers share gardens with schools.
Hundreds of poor pupils have their fees paid for, while schools have been renovated and furnished, all because of the painted dog. Books are flowing to schools.
Not to be outdone, the entertainment sector has had a full-blown 18-team football league, sponsored by the painted dog.

The painted dog has also sponsored the establishment of the Iganyane Arts and Crafts Centre at Dete, where 30 villagers mainly use recovered wire snares to make artefacts which are bought by the conservancy in total to ensure that they get cash and deter them from poaching.
Then there is a bee-keeping project at Lupote, where 40 hives have been sponsored by the painted dog. There are more and more benefits including the vaccination of more than 600 domestic dogs and the community dip tanks, all because of the painted dog.

Without the desire to conserve the painted dog, this whole community would be doomed and taking a different direction. Hail the painted dog!
But what is the painted dog?

These long-legged canines have only four toes per foot, unlike other dogs, which have five toes on their forelegs.
The dog’s Latin name means “painted wolf”, referring to the animal’s irregular, mottled coat, which features patches of red, black, brown, white, and yellow fur.
Each animal has its own unique coat pattern, and all have big, rounded ears. African wild dogs live in packs that are usually dominated by a monogamous breeding pair. The female has a litter of 2 to 20 pups, which are cared for by the entire pack.

These dogs are very social, and packs have been known to share food and to assist weak or ill members. Social interactions are common, and the dogs communicate by touch, actions, and vocalisations.
African wild dogs hunt in formidable, co-operative packs of 6 to 20 (or more) animals. Larger packs were more common before the dogs became endangered.

Packs hunt antelopes and will also tackle much larger prey such as wildebeests, particularly if their quarry is ill or injured. The dogs supplement their diet with rodents and birds.

As human settlements expand, the dogs have sometimes developed a taste for livestock, though significant damage is rare. Unfortunately, they are often hunted and killed by farmers who fear for their livestock.
African hunting dogs are endangered. They are faced with shrinking room to roam in their African home.

They are also quite susceptible to diseases spread by domestic animals.
But if truth be told, for the villagers in Hwange, the painted dog is life itself and destroying the dog means destroying their own source of livelihood. It is akin to scoring an own goal in a cup final.

• isadore.guvamombe@zimpapers.co.zw