Special Report - Stitch's Story

As reported in my blog from Week 11, the alpha female of the Thanda wild dog pack, Stitch, was seen with a snare around her neck during the evening monitoring session on September 11, 2012.  There was much rain during the previous week, so monitoring was not able to be conducted for a few days due to inaccessible roads.  It was presumed, due to Stitch’s poor body condition and based on the observation from the last monitoring session, that she became snared during the rainy time and it may have been on her for 4-5 days.  Stitch was observed to have lost weight, had a swollen face and neck and was salivating and drooling – an indication she may not be able to swallow.  However, she was still moving around and running with the pack when they hunted, but she would stop and rest frequently and always lay down on the outskirts of the rest of the pack and puppies.  She was not observed eating on a carcass, which, combined with her weight loss, further corroborated the theory that she could not swallow or had lost her appetite due to the pain.

The Thanda monitor, Michelle, called the Wildlife ACT team to see who was available to come to Thanda the next morning to attempt to tranquilize Stitch and remove the snare.  The Wildlife ACT team promptly responded and arrived on the scene by 6:00am, September 12^th.  Michelle was provided a female impala by the Thanda reserve farm manager to use as bait to draw the pack out from the bush into the open so Stitch could be darted in a safe setting.  No such luck.  Only 4 of the 6 adults came out to feed on the bait – no sign of the alpha pair.  After a few hours and still no sighting of Stitch, it was decided to go back to camp and try again in the afternoon.  Wild dogs usually rest during the middle of the day, so the best chance of seeing them is when they move from their resting spot to go hunt in the late afternoon.

The team went back to the area by 3:30pm on the 12^th and was able to see all 6 adults and all 9 puppies.  All the adults and puppies came to the leftover bait to feed, except for Stitch.  She remained towards the back of the pack off in the bush and was too far away to be darted.  The pack then decided they had enough of us and went back into the bush to rest for the evening.  Even though the attempt was not successful, we were happy to get a visual of Stitch so we knew she was still alive and still with the pack.

The next morning, September 13^th, we arrived at the area at 5:30am to try for the third time.  We were able to locate the dogs with telemetry in the same location we left them the previous night, but the dogs decided they were sleeping in that day and never moved from their resting spot.  We never saw them that morning.  It was decided that we would come back again later that afternoon.

By 3:30pm on the afternoon of September 13^th, Michelle and I drove up to the area the dogs were resting.  We tied the remaining rib cage and legs from the leftover bait to the back of the truck.  Almost immediately, 4 of the 6 adults and all 9 puppies came out of the bush to investigate the remains of the carcass.  We decided to drag the carcass down the road and draw the dogs out into the open for the 4^th darting attempt.  Luckily, all the dogs followed us – including the alpha pair coming up the rear of the pack.  The 5 adults and puppies were very interested in the carcass, but Stitch remained in the back away from the commotion of the rest of the pack.  As we let the dogs feed on the carcass remains, Stitch was able to be successfully darted with the tranquilizer when the rest of the team arrived.  She walked into the shade of a bush and within 5 minutes was asleep.  By this time, the Thanda farm manager arrived with a fresh male impala carcass to provide to the pack so they would be occupied while we worked on removing the snare from around Stitch’s neck.

The snare caused quite a wound.  It was looped around the front of one ear and down around her neck.  It had cut into her skin and flesh to the point where it was close to cutting off her windpipe.  The fact that it was around the front of one ear probably kept it from slipping too much tighter around her windpipe, which would have killed her by suffocation.  Pictures were taken as evidence of the damage snares can cause and then we quickly used wire cutters to cut the snare off.  She was then given an antibiotic shot, a vitamin B shot and a rabies shot.  Her neck wound was sprayed liberally with an antibiotic spray to help assist the healing process.  I was able to assist by putting some lubrication in her eyes to keep her eyes moist until she woke up from the tranquilizer.  We then moved her to a shaded open area where she would be comfortable during the awakening process.  The rest of the pack was preoccupied with the fresh bait provided and when they were finished feeding they rested nearby in the bush.  We previously saved a leg from the fresh bait and laid it near Stitch’s head in order to entice her to wake up quickly as well as to have something easy to eat since it was evident she lost a lot of weight and was probably very hungry.  We waited for Stitch to wake up enough that we could see she was trying to stand and use her legs again, although she was still pretty wobbly when we finally had to leave her.

Michelle and I arrived at the area where we left Stitch by 5:30am on September 14^th.  She was up and moving around and drinking water.  She had not yet eaten on the leg of bait we left for her.  The rest of the pack was still resting off in the bush.  Stitch called for them to join her, and they all promptly came out of the bush.  Stitch went around to each member of the pack and licked and greeted them.  After a warm welcome back to the pack, the pack started picking at the leftover carcass and Stitch found the leg we left for her and started eating it.  She ate about a quarter of the leg before she seemed full and laid down in the bush to rest.  We could also still see the blue antibiotic spray around her neck, which luckily wasn’t washed off from the rain during the night.  We are all very relieved the snare was successfully removed and that Stitch got her appetite back so quickly after the removal.  Now that she can eat again, she should recover nicely.  I am excited to be able to continue to monitor her and the rest of the pack for the next week to see her recovery.

Stitch is the dog in the background lying down.  You can see how her head appears swollen.

After successfully tranquilizing Stitch, we were able to get a good look at the damage the snare caused.  You can see the snare has cut into her flesh in front of her left ear and around her neck behind her right ear.

We were able to quickly cut the wire snare with clippers and remove it from around her neck.

After the snare was removed, we quickly took some pictures of the damage it caused.  Stitch's head is on the right side of the photo, so this picture shows the wound from the bottom of her neck.  It may be hard to tell here, but the wound was very close to cutting into her windpipe.  It is incredible to me that she survived as long as she did with this kind of injury and not being able to eat.

I was able to assist with putting some lubrication in her eyes so they would stay moist while she took time to wake up from the tranquilizer. (Photo by Michelle)

It was a bittersweet moment at this point.  I was happy that we were able to help Stitch, but was also close to tears at the damage that was done to such an amazing animal. (Photo by Michelle)

We then carried her to an open area where she could wake up comfortably and where we could keep an eye on her during the awakening process.  Since she had lost so much weight, it was decided to give her some subcutaneous fluids so she would have an extra boost of energy to help her wake up and get on her feet. (Photo by Michelle)

The next morning, Michelle and I were able to observe Stitch eating on the leg we left her.  If you look closely you can see the blue coloration of the antibiotic that was sprayed around her neck wound.  I am amazed at how quickly these dogs are able to recover and heal from such a wound.  I hope it stops raining so I can have one more chance to see Stitch running with her pack. (Photo by Michelle)