The next general meeting of CWC will be:

JANUARY 10, 2023

Colleyville Center

9:30 am Registration

10:00 am Meeting begins

Program by VIANNA VON WEYHAUSEN on “CANINES IN AFRICA”

 Vianna von Weyhausen is the founder and director of Canines for Africa (http://k94a.org/), a non-profit organization that trains and deploys wildlife protection canine units. Each man-and-dog unit is sourced and trained (anti-poaching, detection, apprehension, research, patrol, tracking, cold-scent tracking etc.) specifically for the recipient reserve or national park where it will operate.  

Originally from Zimbabwe, Vianna has been involved in conservation most of her life.  A resident of Morocco, she is currently based in Texas, as a Visiting Scholar at Texas A&M – with whom she is creating a pioneering genetic research project for jaguar conservation, using her K9 protocols.

Canines for Africa has 12 units operating in South Africa, all in reserves with significant numbers of threatened (white) or endangered (black) rhino. They have deployed a further 8 units in Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Mali, and have a tiger-tracking unit in India.

Vianna decided to focus her conservation efforts on using canines because these are game changers in the world of anti-poaching.  The Southern African Wildlife College states “It takes a field ranger follow up from a 3 percent or 5 percent success rate to a 60, 70 or 80 percent success rate, using line dogs and free-tracking dogs.” The deterrent effect alone also makes a significant difference to protecting endangered species.