Living In Botswana ~ The Real Crocodile Hunters ~ Page two

Despite this, we can’t lose hope. After all without the great beasts on the continent of Africa we have no hope for our pearled, azure space capsule. As I try to do my part, this is where soccer comes in. My company, Ashley’s Soccer Camp, is involved in two projects with the Philadelphia Zoo donating new and used soccer equipment to programs in Liberia and Botswana. Conservation organizations use this as leverage and are speaking to locals in that great international language known as soccer.

At games local people are meeting with the conservationists to discuss how the community can co-exist peacefully with the animals as important equipment such as balls and cleats are traded for time.

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Looking to expand this program many young children in the New Jersey area have been collecting soccer equipment which has been sent to needy villages and in turns warms the oft strained relationship between conservationist and hungry villagers. Dr. J. “Tico” McNutt, the head of the Botswana Predator Conservation group who specifically work with Africa’s most endangered carnivore, “The African Wild Dog,” has also been involved in the plan. The Shorobe village soccer team close to the Wild Dog Conservation base has been the recipient of new cleats and uniforms courtesy of Ashley’s Soccer Camp and Tico himself.. Undefeated in the Delta league this season the green and white Shorobe Village teams are soaring again after a disappointing relegation battle last year.

This November I am returning to Botswana armed with another plan. Hosted by Tico and Pieter Kat (lion research), myself and Chris Waldron, Assistant Curator of Carnivores from the Philadelphia Zoo, will be spending time on a new initiative called “Bring a Bag.” Along with increasing support from soccer groups the plan is to work closely with safari companies and create a web site to which scientists in the field can relay “wish lists.”

Safari companies will in turn send as part of their travel literature to their clients a “needs” list. It is hoped that the caring travelers looking to tread lightly but make an impact will “Bring a Bag.”

The bags will hopefully be filled with inexpensive yet crucial supplies that can feed the needs of the scientists in the field enabling them to channel conservation dollars away from the basics and towards more and better research.

Items such as flash lights, batteries, radios and many other relatively inexpensive easily transportable items can make a huge difference.

A recent fire at Tico’s wild dog camp has deprived Tico and his family simple things such as music as the CD players were destroyed. Cookery books and radios were also damaged along with more important items such as binoculars, a pellet gun, aircraft base station with radio antenna and a handheld ICOM A5 Aircraft radio.

The rest of the list is long and the expense to replace these items is potentially crippling for Tico and with this may go the last hope for the African Wild Dog.

The plight of the Wild Dogs is well documented by Tico as his books and recent award winning documentary “Newky” a Wild Dogs Tail are poised to help him dig his heels in and make a last stand to preserve. With possibly fewer than four thousand “Painted Wolves” as the dogs are sometimes called left on the continent time and money are at a premium.

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In addition to being shot and poisoned by farmers these awesome pack hunters are simply running out of space.

The dogs need large home ranges to catch adequate prey as they also suffer a high infant mortality rate at the hands of lions and hyenas. In addition to this the dogs are highly vulnerable to many of the diseases that domestic dogs carry and many packs are regularly devastated after coming in contact with farmer's dogs.

With big black ears, dark faces and a menacing hunting style these highly endangered creatures fail to capture the same panda type “cute’ attention.

However when you look deep into the eyes of a wild dog or spend a few moments in the company of this masterful hunter you will understand why Tico and scientists like him are prepared to live with so little in such inhospitable areas.

As voting members on the Circle of Life committee we must ask ourselves how many breaches in the circle can we allow before it simply becomes a dotted line and collapses.

If we were any other creature we would be labeled as a plague and dealt with accordingly. The cure for the plague is being self medicated, kill all others and do nothing to coexist peacefully. This is one doctor’s order we would be well advised to ignore.

Tico and the anonymous few are ignoring the order and continue to live a Bedouin lifestyle. Programs like “Bring a Bag” and “Bush Soccer not Meat” must prevail or Tico and his family will be homeless like his beloved wild dogs.

A full list of items destroyed at Tico’s camp can be obtained by contacting me directly at ashley@ashleyssoccer.com. We are hoping to coordinate the replacement of these items with our “Bring a Bag” program.

For further information on how to get involved in “Bring a Bag” or the “Bush Soccer not Meat” programs please write to soccercamp1@aol.com