Bonus Photo

Our dhole pack is showing a healthy presence; we had multiple photos at most camera locations.  The clouded leopard is an outstanding bonus.

This month took an unexpected turn because I lost my research visa due to a stamping error when I last re-entered the country.  Despite two full days lost waiting in lines and politely arguing my point at the immigration office, I ended up having to leave Thailand for a couple of days to apply for a tourist visa.  I now have a 60 day visa while I wait for my research permit extension (potentially 1-2 months) and then I can apply for a new research visa.

November 24-27 I participated in a workshop on the small mammalian carnivores of Thailand.  It was an excellent exchange of information between researchers and conservationists involved in monitoring illegal wildlife trade.  We spent hours checking the identification of species in camera trap photos and I learned to better distinguish mongooses, otters, and fishing cats.  The group identified research priorities for groups of species and we discussed appropriate sampling and ways to increase data collection on the small carnivores for researchers who are currently using camera traps.  The organizers brought together camera trap datasets from throughout Thailand.  I will be able to access this collection to conduct a nationwide habitat-suitability model for dholes.  I also plan to research the historical records for canids in Thailand now that I have tips on where to start my search.

At the end of the month Baa Jii (“Yaai”), my cook, gossip connection, and primary friend at the sanctuary passed away.  I am now setting myself up to be a bit more isolated and on my own for food.

In December I will focus on tracking 4 GPS collars on roaming domestic dogs.  I am *still* working on manuscript edits for a paper on the results of camera trapping in Khao Yai National Park.  Plus, this week I will finalize edits from reviewer comments on a short large-spotted civet note.  I also volunteered to help write up the strategy document that will be an outcome of the small mammal workshop.  We hope to have the meeting proceedings finalized by Dec. 27th.

Bush Camping

If you are on Facebook, it is no secret that the last two months I have been globetrotting in Africa and Japan.  Unexpected opportunities arose that I took advantage of while there is a lull in my trapping permits.  My ongoing camera trapping was covered by assistants while I was away and resulted in only one dhole photo.  I immensely enjoyed bush camping in game reserves and national parks in South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe (Photos Here).  It offered a break from all of the hurdles thrown at me during fieldwork and a chance to reconnect with the energy of actually seeing wildlife (including lions and a serval!).  In Japan, I was invited (and fully sponsored) by Dr. Hayashi Yoshihiro, a professor at the University of Tokyo (and the mammal curator of their museum) to give a presentation about my dhole research. This took place at the Hyogo Wildlife Management Research Center.  I talked with graduate students involved in carnivore work and also learned about bear traps.

In September, I sent in a pre-proposal to the Asia Seed Grant program of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.  My proposal was chosen to advance to the next round, so I am currently working on a full proposal.  My Fulbright grant also ended this month and I was required to write a final report on the year.

We are working on a new proposal for the Smithsonian IACUC committee and on research permit extensions from Thailand (which translates to never ending forms).  What does this mean?  No trapping (probably not until February of next year).  I am now focusing on the potential disease spillover from domestic dogs’ angle.  I have one GPS collar and 3 other collars in transit.  In November I will focus on getting these out on roaming dogs.  We also plan to start the blood disease analysis at the University lab and revisit villages for a census of the domestic animal populations.

Waiting for Permits (Again)

August was a slow month as we wait for permission from the Animal Care and Use Committee at the Smithsonian to give the green light for further trapping.  We did have a couple of lone dhole sightings around the Research Station, but no dholes photographed. Instead, we took a big hit on equipment:  Two of my brand new camera traps were stolen! We finally got ourselves elephant proof cases, but they aren't bullet proof!  The thief actually shot off the locks, took the cameras, and left behind the steel protective cases still bolted to the trees.  We talked to the villagers and explained the purpose of the cameras, but they confirmed the cameras were destroyed.  Additionally, one more cage trap was crushed by a family of elephants.

We nearly finished the construction of two long box traps for set up directly on trails and ordered 4 GPS collars for domestic dog tracking.  My team conducted 100 interview surveys in Buriram province to the east.  I am now busy with data entry for a total of 500 surveys.

 I also wrote up a short note for "Small Carnivore Conservation" to document the Large-Spotted Civet photographs we have gotten at Khao Yai National Park and in Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary.

Interviews

After last month’s excitement, we toned down a bit and focused on interview surveys in July. Next week I will collect the memory cards from camera traps that have been out in the forest for a month, but right now I do not have any new dhole news.  We did work with a team from Kasetsart University to interview villagers living near the border of Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary.  Spread over three villages, we have now interviewed 84 households regarding domestic dogs and collected 113 blood samples for disease analysis.  

I sent another team to provinces in the East to finally complete long-overdue carnivore interview surveys (focusing on dholes, tigers, and clouded leopards).  They conducted 300 surveys despite problems such as a blind man wanting to answer a survey, Cambodian language barriers, and a group demanding a whiskey payment for answers!

In August I will organize what we need to analyze the blood samples and possibly open traps if we have a veterinarian living on site.  I am slightly ahead of schedule with the blood draws and may even be able to analyze all of the samples by the end of the year (earlier than my original target of next summer).  

We are now ready to choose village dogs to monitor their ranging movements.  This has been delayed because of lack of funding for GPS collars.  I am working with Peter on a budget and hope to have 4 collars ordered by mid-August.

I also need to prepare forms and reports to extend our research permit (which expires in November 2009).  

Dhole Hunt

June was an exciting month with plenty of dhole activity.  I worked hard from 5am to 10pm every day for 3 weeks and everything seemed to happen at once in rapid succession (after months of delay).  We spent a day in the field with our vet and his assistant on June 3rd.  As we stopped to find the source of a sambar deer distress call, canid shapes came into focus across the reservoir.  Three dholes were herding a young deer into the water!  It was my first chance to observe their hunting behavior which was surprisingly silent.  Still, there was enough non-vocal communication for them to coordinate efforts to keep the deer struggling in deep water.  The lead dhole was so intent on its prey that my field assistant was able to approach within 20m for a photograph.  This confused everything we have learned thus far about the pack avoiding human activity.  Unfortunately, we did not see a kill, the deer was able to sneak away into cover.

We had another exciting opportunity when a fresh sambar carcass was found by rangers who reported a pack of 10 dholes.  I have video of a single dhole returning to the carcass, but he was wary of the camera and focused on pulling the carcass (over the traps) out of camera range within a few minutes.  Our mistake was not staking down the carcass and setting up of cameras directly at the site.  Over the next few days, the dholes returned to the kill site, but did not touch a hind quarter that was staked in front of a camera.  Instead, they preferred to feed on the full carcass in the water by access through a tunnel in the grass where they could stay off of the road, away from our traps, and away from our camera eyes.

We also received news of two dholes that were shot by farmers in a village bordering the west of the sanctuary.  They accused the dholes of stealing chickens.  I set up cameras in the area and am working on convincing the farmers to report the site of the bodies so I can collect skulls.  I now have 15 working digital cameras and they are all in the forest.

Finally, after months of delay, I met a professor from Kasetsart University who brought vet student volunteers to help with blood samples from domestic dogs (for disease analysis). We completed approximately 30 interviews and blood draws, with plans for further work in mid-July.

I made a short trip to Khao Yai National Park at the end of the month to meet with a previous collaborator and obtain his permission to be included as co-author on my camera trapping manuscript.  This is essential for publication because the work was done under his permits. 

 July work will focus on village interviews/blood draws and extensive camera trapping to locate the dhole pack to the west.

Big Mean Lizards

The dhole project should be reworked into the “large, mean lizard project.”  I have plenty of experience tagging and bagging nasty monitor lizards.  After having five box traps open every day and every night for three weeks in May, we only captured 13 lizards.  (At least the sanctuary staff is taking blood samples from the lizards for a DNA study).  We used chicken, scent, racks of beef, and blood and stomach content on trails for baiting.  

Our biggest success was finally figuring out how to secure the trap transmitters at the right angle to have them reliably trigger if a door closed.  This will save us a lot of false alarms and unnecessary hiking.  As soon as I return to the sanctuary, on the 2nd, I will collect photos from the five camera traps I had out for the month at the trap sites.

I am currently in Bangkok after picking up my Dad from the airport.  He will visit me at the sanctuary for 3 weeks.  He brought with him 10 new digital camera traps, two dozen soft-catch foothold traps, a capture stick, and trapping supplies.  As soon as we receive permission from the sanctuary chief, we will begin using these traps in addition to the 5 box traps.  I plan to build an additional box-trap (similar to the ones designed for lynx in Switzerland).  I also met a Thai researcher, Pornchai Patumrattanathan at the sanctuary, who designed a successful foot-snare for tigers.  I will work with Pornchai to possibility modify the foot snares for dholes.

I met with Dr. David Powell in Bangkok, the Assistant Curator of Mammalogy at the Bronx Zoo.  He recently finished a two-week project in Huay Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand, to test the potential of using dhole vocalization playbacks.  His work was similar to my earlier unsuccessful attempts to attract wild dholes using vocalizations that I obtained from dholes at the Toronto Zoo.  In preparation for Dr. Powell’s trip, I collaborated with him regarding his proposal.  Unfortunately, during his two weeks in Huay Kha Khaeng he saw no dholes.

I am also working on the statistical analysis for a manuscript that will make up my second chapter:  Mammal Distribution Modeling and Lessons for Park Management, Khao Yai National Park.  This is using past camera trap data I have collected.

Lots of work to do...

More Monitors

The first week of April we concentrated on keeping the traps open and we used live chickens as bait.  We caught a few monitor lizards and are still having trouble with reliability of the trap transmitters.  I need to fiddle with alternative ways to attach them to the doors so that the VHF is triggered when the trap door closes.  The camera traps only photographed one bear and elephants in the vicinity of the traps.  We lost one camera to ants.

The extended holiday for Songkran in mid-April reduced time in the field, but I used that break to change my Bangkok apartment location to a building that seems to be safer (the last place was broken into twice and my computer was stolen).

At the end of the month I attended a workshop in Bern, Switzerland at the Cat Specialist Group Office, headed by Christine and Urs Breitenmoser.  This was funded by me and my frequent flier miles.  Another one of Todd’s students, Jennifer McCarthy (studying small felids in Indonesia), and a team from Germany (studying wild cats) also attended.  The workshop included presentations on our study sites and animals, field demonstrations of various trapping methods, a brainstorming session, and a day of tracking wild cats in the Jura Mountains.  Networking with researchers who know what it is like to start a project (telemetry of lynx in the mountains) when everyone tells you it is impossible, was invaluable for me to gain perspective on my project. And, Jen and I were able to sympathize with each other over the specific challenges of tropical field work.

We brainstormed the environmental and ecological factors influencing capture probability (e.g. seasonal aspects, land tenure, behavior) and then the technical factors influencing capture probability (e.g. trap layout, human disturbance, type of trap, bait) to get us thinking about what we can then change/improve/test for our projects.  For dholes, I am going to spread my box traps over a larger area, locate the traps on trails (we looked at a new double door walk-through design that I will build), try to place traps at kills, and trap closer to human activities where animals are maybe less suspicious of scent (e.g. the sanctuary border).  The idea was brought up to perhaps train a domestic dog to find kills in the field.

I also got great hands-on experience with various trapping methods.  They have been developing a new remote darting system where they set the dart on a tripod and sit back several hundred meters watching a TV screen.  They can then aim and fire the dart from a distance.  This method allows them to choose whether they want to dart an animal or not (I.e. aim for a certain collared animal, or get a dhole, but let a bear go by).  They have also been using snares; however, the design would be difficult to boil (to reduce human scent), so I don’t think this is practical for dholes.  Jen showed me the details of setting up a foot-hold trap (I stuck my hand in it for a test).  I do think these would be ideal to use at a kill site, but we need to extend our current permits to include this type of trap.

After being done with the "work" part of my trip I planned to relax in a nice hotel.  I got stuck in the bathroom for 8 hours! (Broken door latch).  Then, I developed a nasty bacterial infection in my hand that was so painful I could not type or write.  On the way back, coming through Moscow, I was almost quarantined at the airport (because of my fever related to my hand).  Needless to say, I am quite happy to be back at my field site.


I plan to be at KARN throughout May with the traps open.  I will also coordinate student volunteers to interview villagers and draw blood samples from domestic dogs for disease testing.  This was delayed in April because of scheduling with the local university professor who will come out to help me introduce the project idea to the village chiefs.

Finally, I was awarded a Smithsonian Predoctoral Fellowship for Jun 2009 - May 2010!

Fulbright Conference SE Asia

My high hopes for trapping in March did not materialize.  We caught two large monitor lizards and saw very little dhole sign.  We ended up with only 4 trap nights because my schedule did not overlap with my vet’s schedule.  However, he did get a week of wildlife handling training at Khao Khieo Open Zoo.  

During the middle of March, I attended the Fulbright Regional Enrichment Conference for American Fulbright Scholars in Southeast Asia, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The conference was truly the best conference I have attended by students, professors, and experts in various fields.  It was helpful to hear about other grantees experiences/frustrations in setting up projects in Asia.  I was excited to learn about interesting and worthwhile projects in everything from issues in public health and economics to the role of arts in modern Southeast Asia.  My presentation on dholes was the “highlight” of the conference because it was the only wildlife presentation and everyone was intrigued with the unknown species.

After a couple days break exploring Kuala Lumpur, I headed back to Bangkok to deal with a second break-in at my apartment and being locked out of my computer.  When I got back into the field, my vet was not available.  We finally coordinated our schedules, and I just set the 5 traps this morning (March 31st) in the same study area we have been focusing on last year.  I hope to keep them set for two weeks before the Thai New Year’s holiday, Songkran, around April 13th.  After Songkran, the focus of the month will be on trapping.  We will also coordinate student volunteers to interview villagers and draw blood samples from domestic dogs for disease testing.  I have a professor from a local university coming out to help me introduce the project idea to the village chiefs.