Also known as the painted wolf, African Wild Dog and Cape Hunting Dog, the African Painted Dog is the most endangered large carnivore in Africa, Red-Listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
African Painted Dogs have disappeared from much of their former range. Their population is currently estimated at approximately 6,000 adults.
The main threats to painted dogs are loss of habitat, habitat destruction, and human-wildlife conflict.
In October of 2019, Dagmar Midcap traveled to South Africa to document what's being done to protect and hopefully save painted dogs from extinction. While in Africa, Dagmar followed an expert conservation crew as they tracked a pack of wild dogs, installed a GPS tracking collar on a painted dog, and tried to help an injured painted dog with a snare stuck on her neck.
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Down to Earth, The Extinction Crisis, Africa's Last Wild Dogs airs at 9 p.m. Nov. 25 on NBC 7.