Dr. Claudio Sillero was born in Argentina, lives in Oxford, England and is internationally recognized for his work on carnivore conservation projects spanning four continents. One of his greatest contributions to conservation is his work to protect the critically endangered Ethiopian wolf. In 1995 he founded the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program (EWCP), receiving the Whitley Award for Animal Conservation from the Royal Geographical Society in 1998.

EWCP’s holistic approach to conservation reflects Claudio’s increasing interest in ensuring the economic and social well-being of the human communities that need to co-exist with carnivores.    His current work focuses on mitigating conflict between wildlife and humans to promote the sustainable survival of both.  Claudio has established an international network, the People and Wildlife Initiative, which focuses on partnering with communities to develop methods of conflict resolution. 

Claudio is a Zoology Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit and supervises its projects worldwide.  In addition to directing EWCP, he is active in several IUCN Specialist Groups and runs the Satpura Landscape Tiger Project in central India and the Andean Cats and Transfrontier Conservation Project in South America.  He participates in and influences dozens of other projects that benefit threatened carnivore species and biodiversity worldwide.

The Ethiopian wolf is the only species of wolf in Africa, as well as the most rare and endangered canid in the world. Fewer than 500 wolves remain in seven isolated populations. They face a variety of threats due to conflict with Ethiopia's ever-expanding human population, including fragmentation of highland habitat, disease from domestic dogs and hybridization, as well as direct persecution.

The wolves make their home in the Afroalpine highlands of Ethiopia.  They reside in mountain meadows at elevations above 10,500 feet.  Subsistence farmers are increasingly tilling the land at this altitude, and in some areas wolf habitat has been lost due to agriculture reaching as high as 12,000 feet.  The highlands of Ethiopia have become some of the most densely populated agricultural areas within Africa today. 

With human development surrounding and encroaching on their habitat, the wolves are confined to small areas and isolated from other wolf populations.  Increased road construction and proposed development of commercial sheep farms are threatening their remaining territories.  At least two local wolf populations in Shoa and Wollo, regions in the north of the country, have been extirpated in recent times due to habitat degradation.  The ranges of other wolf populations have been reduced and fragmented as well.

Historically co-existing amicably with mountain pastoralists and their herds, the expansion of agriculture brings the wolves into direct conflict with their human neighbors.  New roads result in the increasing problem of road kills.  Additional numbers have been lost as a result of hunting and from poisoning and persecution when wolves are thought to be responsible for livestock losses (although wolves rarely prey on livestock).

Domestic dogs pose the greatest danger to Ethiopian wolves.  Dogs transmit diseases, such as rabies, and possibly canine distemper, to which the surviving Ethiopian wolf populations are especially vulnerable. Wolf populations were decimated by such outbreaks in 1991 and 2003, which reduced the wolf population in the Bale Mountains (their last large stronghold) from an estimated 440 individuals to fewer than 150.  Hybridization resulting from male domestic dogs breeding with female wild wolves is not yet common, but the potential for hybridization looms as a severe threat to the genetic integrity of the Ethiopian wolf population.

EWCP alleviates threats to Ethiopian wolves by monitoring their numbers and protecting the areas where they live. The program vaccinates domestic dogs to effectively control the spread of disease. EWCP has created a comprehensive education campaign for local school children and employs many local residents, raising the standard of living and fostering a strong conservation ethic among those who most closely co-exist with this rare carnivore.

EWCP was founded in 1995 to promote sustainable solutions for protecting the Ethiopian wolf.  As a keystone species, the strategies designed for the conservation of the wolf also protect the fragile Afroalpine ecosystem.

Research

Scientific research is the foundation for EWCP’s conservation actions.  EWCP’s first detailed studies in the 1980s unveiled the behavioral ecology of these fascinating wolves, with their complex mating and social systems.  Research continued on aspects of the wolves' ecology and genetics.  EWCP also intensively studies patterns of disease in domestic dogs, as contagion from dogs constitutes one of the greatest threats to the Ethiopian wolf.  

Regular and standard population monitoring constitutes an active part of EWCP’s research.  Monitoring not only contributes to the formation of new approaches to Ethiopian wolf protection, but also serves as an indicator to measure the effectiveness of conservation strategies already in place.  EWCP staff members have recently completed two new doctoral theses which have expanded knowledge of resource use among packs and the genetic structure of Ethiopian dog families.

Protection from Disease

An essential element of EWCP's program has been the vaccination of domestic dogs against rabies and canine distemper, so that they do not spread these deadly diseases to the wolves. EWCP has focused its vaccination campaign on dog populations in and surrounding wolf habitat in the Bale Mountains. The Bale Mountains is a critical area because high domestic dog densities overlap with an important wolf range. Indirect advantages of dog vaccination include public health and safety and reduced livestock losses. It provides a valuable opportunity for community liaison and environmental advocacy.

Vaccinating domestic dogs has been used successfully to reduce rabies incidences, although it can be logistically difficult and local cultural attitudes to handling dogs leads to difficulty in achieving sufficient dog vaccination coverage in the population. Both these factors increase the expense of this strategy. Since 1996, more than 60,000 dogs in the wolves' range have been vaccinated. However despite these efforts, two major rabies epidemics have penetrated the "cordon sanitaire" resulting in significant wolf mortality.

With recent advances in vaccine research and development, direct vaccination of the Ethiopian wolf using an oral vaccine placed in bait is now an option and is currently being tested in a few key populations in the Bale Mountains. These vaccines have the advantage of not requiring animal handling or anesthesia, and have proven to be both safe and effective. It is expected that oral vaccines will also be less expensive than the former method of catching and vaccinating domestic dogs. This new method is expected to protect a percentage of one of the most significant populations in the Bale Mountains, thus creating a barrier for the disease and reservoir of protected wolves.

Education and Outreach

EWCP’s Education Team visits local schools and distributes educational materials, currently reaching over 3,000 children per year.  Environmental clubs have been established in 13 high schools and four colleges within the region.  In addition to direct instruction and camping trips to experience wildlife close at hand, the clubs sponsor local projects in sustainable development, including tree planting, erosion control measures, potential crops that benefit both humans and wildlife (such as apple trees), and fuel efficient stoves to protect forested acreage from overexploitation for firewood.

Reaching out more broadly to the community, in February 2008, EWCP hosted its 10th annual “Wolf Day” in the Bale region.  This day of organized sports and activities is a celebration of Afroalpine natural resources, an opportunity for environmental education, and a way to show gratitude for the community’s goodwill toward EWCP.  This year’s event coincided with the grand opening of the Ethiopian Wolf Sports Center, known as “Wolf Stadium.” 

EWCP hosts community workshops on wolf conservation, which are attended by prominent local leaders and others from the spheres of agriculture, natural resources, tourism and education.  Workshops introduce the status and ecology of the Ethiopian wolf and the activities of EWCP.  Attendees discuss issues involved in conservation and propose their own solutions.  Thus far there has been remarkable conformity of proposed approaches.  EWCP compiles the proceedings from workshops, fostering further community dialogue and participation.