Dogs4Wildlife

06/10/2026

🐾 ONE MINUTE. ONE NOMINATION. A CHANCE TO WIN £5,000 FOR WILDLIFE. 🌍

We need your help!

Dogs 4 Wildlife has the chance to receive a £5,000 Movement for Good award and the more nominations we receive, the greater our chances of being selected.

That £5,000 could make a real difference to our work, helping us continue to train and deploy conservation dogs and rangers, strengthen wildlife protection and support the communities living alongside some of the world’s most threatened species.

It takes less than a minute to nominate us, and every nomination counts.

⏰ Nominations close 18 October, so please nominate us and share this post with friends, family and fellow wildlife lovers!

Every nomination gives us another chance to secure vital funding for wildlife protection. 🐾

Thank you for standing with us and the wildlife we work to protect…

💚NOMINATE DOGS 4 WILDLIFE by clicking the link below👇🏼

We could receive a £5,000 donation with your help through the Movement for Good Draw.

05/10/2026

🇿🇼 We are now over halfway through Stage Two of our development programme at Matusadona National Park and what an incredible few weeks it has been.

Kova, Dru and Spike- the three rescue dogs given a new purpose through our WORD programme, in partnership with THE FRIEND ANIMAL FOUNDATIONhave hit the ground running.

Their tracking capabilities are developing brilliantly, and we’ve now selected the three rangers who will become their operational handlers.

Alongside them, Vega and Kuda continue to make exceptional progress, with Stage Two focused on developing their operational effectiveness through tracking, unit cohesion, formations, tactics and handler development.

The goal is to build a highly capable and sustainable K9 unit that can support Matusadona’s rangers in protecting the extraordinary wildlife across this national park.

And for Kova, Dru and Spike, it’s an incredible story: three rescue dogs given a second chance and a new purpose in conservation. 💚🐾

A huge thank you to The Friend Animal Foundation, African Parks, Zimparks and Matusadona National Park and of course the dedicated rangers at the heart of it all.

Five dogs. One mission. Protecting Matusadona. 🇿🇼👊🏽

🇿🇼

04/10/2026

🐘Today is World Animal Day- a day to celebrate the incredible wildlife we share our planet with, but also to reflect on just how much is at risk.

⚠️ According to the latest 2026 IUCN Red List, 49,505 species are currently threatened with extinction.

From elephants, rhinos and pangolins to the smallest pollinators, every species has a role to play. And once a species is lost, it’s gone forever.

World Animal Day is a reminder that protecting wildlife is a responsibility we all share. Whether it’s raising awareness, supporting conservation or taking action directly, every contribution matters.

As Desmond Tutu said:

“We can all do our little bit of good where we are, it’s those little bits of good put together that will overwhelm the world.”

On World Animal Day, let’s keep doing our bit of good. 💚🐾

Together, we can make a difference.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
🐕 Learn more about our mission: dogs4wildlife.org
🐾 Support our work: dogs4wildlife.org/donate

01/10/2026

🇿🇼 Part two: A successful track for Vega and the rangers: Stage 2, Matusadona National Park

One kilometre. Hour-old spoor. And a successful track for Vega and the ranger team.

In part one, we followed Vega as she was deployed onto a deliberately laid human track, left to age for approximately one hour before the exercise began.

Now, we see the scenario through to its conclusion.

Working through challenging bush terrain, Vega continues to follow the human scent while her handler reads her behaviour and the wider ranger team moves and operates around them as they would during a real conservation deployment.

And after successfully tracking the spoor for 1km, Vega locates the target. 👏🏼

But the success of an exercise like this goes far beyond reaching the end of the track.

Every scenario is an opportunity to strengthen the partnership between dog and handler, while developing the communication, fieldcraft, decision-making and teamwork needed across the wider ranger unit.

As Stage 2 of our Advanced Ranger Training Programme progresses, these increasingly realistic field exercises are helping turn training into operational capability-building a K9 and ranger unit equipped to support frontline wildlife protection at Matusadona.

An outstanding result from Vega, her handler and the entire ranger team. 🇿🇼🐾

This programme continues in collaboration with THE FRIEND ANIMAL FOUNDATION, African Parks, Zimparks and Matusadona National Park working together to build sustainable conservation capability on the ground.

A huge thank you also to Emirates SkyCargo, whose generous support helped make our conservation K9 deployment at Matusadona National Park possible. ✈️💚

30/09/2026

Some moments tell the story better than words ever could. 🇿🇼🐾

These beautiful images of Shinga and the rangers at Imire Wildlife Conservancy were captured by photographer Georgi Dorward, whose storytelling has a way of bringing the relationship between dog and handler to life.

Because behind every conservation dog is a partnership built over time.

Trust. Understanding. Communication. Countless hours training and working alongside one another.

Shinga may bring an incredible set of natural abilities to the team, but it is the bond with the rangers beside her that turns those abilities into an effective conservation partnership in the field.

And that’s what Georgi captures so brilliantly in these photographs-not simply a conservation dog in action, but the trust, respect and teamwork behind it, and the powerful relationships at the heart of conservation canine teams. 🐾

📸 Georgi Dorward

🌏https://www.georgidorward.com

29/09/2026

🇿🇼 PART ONE: Scenario based live tracking with Vega: Stage 2, Matusadona National Park.

A 1km training track. Spoor deliberately left to age for an hour. One incredible nose…

As Stage 2 of our Advanced Ranger Training Programme continues at Matusadona National Park, Vega and the rangers are progressing into increasingly realistic, scenario-based field exercises designed to replicate situations they could encounter during a real conservation operation.

For this training scenario, a 1km human track was deliberately laid and left to age for approximately one hour before the exercise began.

The ranger team then sets out on patrol and, after discovering the spoor, Vega is deployed to take over the track.

Using her incredible scenting ability, she works the trail through challenging bush terrain while her handler and the wider ranger team work operationally around her.

These controlled scenarios allow us to develop not only Vega’s tracking capability, but the communication, fieldcraft, decision-making and teamwork required for the entire K9 and ranger unit to operate effectively together.

And after 1km of tracking hour-old spoor, Vega successfully locates the target…

Another important step in developing a highly capable conservation K9 unit to support frontline wildlife protection at Matusadona.

Outstanding work from Vega, her handler and the ranger team. 🇿🇼👏🏼

This programme continues in collaboration with THE FRIEND ANIMAL FOUNDATION, African Parks, Zimparks and Matusadona National Park working together to build sustainable conservation capability on the ground. A big thank you to Emirates
SkyCargo, whose generous support helped make our conservation K9 deployment at Matusadona National Park possible. ✈️

👉🏼 Stay tuned for part two of this live tracking exercise…

🇿🇼

25/09/2026

From rescue dogs to conservation dogs.🐾🇿🇼

Week one of Stage 2 in Matusadona National Park has seen the new rescue dog recruits begin their assessments alongside the existing canine unit, with the experienced team playing an important role in helping assess, teach and develop both dogs and new handlers.

Our primary focus has been assessing the wildlife rangers who will form the core canine unit working alongside Kova, Spike and Dru-the three rescue dogs who have travelled from our partners at The Friend Animal Foundation in Harare to begin their journey into conservation.

As the new rangers progress, their development will continue over the coming weeks and months, building towards a highly operational and professional conservation canine capability.

Meanwhile, the Stage 1 team:Vega, Kuda and their six trained handlers continues to move into increasingly operational, field-based conservation work, including the ongoing development of human-scent tracking and the ability of handlers and dogs to work together as cohesive operational teams.

👉🏼And here’s Spike, one of our new rescue recruits, on his very first tracking assessment in Matusadona!

A rescue dog learning to become a conservation dog… with a very important future ahead.

Dogs 4 Wildlife is working alongside African Parks, Zimparks and Matusadona National Park to support this programme, with the amazing rescue dogs travelling from THE FRIEND ANIMAL FOUNDATION

25/09/2026

‼️ Updated Rhino Poaching Statistics: South Africa

South Africa has recorded 230 rhinos killed by poachers between January and August 2026, according to the latest figures from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.

That compares with 248 during the same period in 2025.

The Kruger National Park remains one of the biggest targets, with 114 rhinos lost to poaching in the first eight months of 2026, compared with 123 during the same period last year.

KwaZulu-Natal recorded a further 29 poached rhinos during the period.

The latest figures also put South Africa’s national rhino population at a minimum of 15,096 animals at the end of 2025.

While the number of rhinos lost to poaching has fallen compared with last year, 230 rhinos is still 230 too many.

These figures are a reminder that effective protection depends on strong, intelligence-led conservation, skilled rangers and specialist teams working on the ground.

At Dogs 4 Wildlife, our Specialist Conservation Canines work alongside rangers to track, detect and help prevent wildlife crime, protecting rhinos and other threatened species where they are most at risk.

The numbers may be changing. The need to protect rhinos has not.

💚BE THE CHANGE

Together, let’s fight the good fight. 🐕

🫶🏼To donate to protect the world’s most endangered animals, please visit:

https://www.dogs4wildlife.org/donate/

23/09/2026

🎄WE NEED YOUR HELP WITH OUR CHRISTMAS AUCTION!

🎁 Can you or your business donate a prize?

We’re looking for products, services or experiences that we can auction to help raise vital funds for conservation.

Every donation, whatever its value, will help us make a greater impact on the frontline.

The need for wildlife protection has never been greater…

⚠️ 352 rhinos were killed in South Africa last year.
⚠️ Nearly 1,000 have been poached in the past two years.

🐕 Our Specialist Conservation Dogs are working on the frontline alongside rangers, helping to detect and prevent wildlife crime-from snares and bushmeat poaching to rhino horn and ivory.

Where our incredible conservation dogs are deployed, poaching of all types can drop by up to 75%.

Now, we’re raising vital funds to support this work and our community projects across Southern Africa through our Christmas Auction.

📩 To donate a prize, please contact:
[email protected]

Thank you for helping us fight for a better future for the animals and communities in Southern Africa that need us most. 💚