Status of the African wild dog in the Bénoué Complex, North

The status of the African wild dog Lycaon pictus in the West and Central African region is largely unknown. The vast areas of unspoiled Sudano-Guinean savanna and woodland habitat in the North Province of Cameroon provide a potential stronghold for this wide-ranging species. Nevertheless, the wild dog is facing numerous threats in this ar-ea, mainly caused by human encroachment and a lack of enforcement of laws and regulations in hunting conces-sions. Three years of surveys covering over 4,000km of spoor transects and more than 1,200 camera trap days, in addition to interviews with local stakeholders revealed that the African wild dog in North Cameroon can be consid-ered functionally extirpated. Presence of most other large carnivores is decreasing towards the edges of protected areas, while presence of leopard and spotted hyaena is negatively associated with the presence of villages. Lion numbers tend to be lower inside hunting concessions as compared to the national parks. We advise local authorities to drastically improve management strategies and implement a system which follows up on new regulations in both national parks and hunting concessions. Only with such a system in place, the painted dog population may recove