The Asiatic wild dog, or dhole (Cuon alpinus) is an endangered large canid that inhabits forest habitats of south and southeast Asia. As a top carnivore, dholes play a critical role in the maintenance of the ecosystem, but face a variety of threats including impacts of infectious disease that also affect people (e.g. rabies and sarcoptic mange) and domestic animals (canine distemper and parvo viruses). This project will incorporate One Health principles into range-wide and national planning meetings, to be hosted in Nepal, and led by international experts to promote the conservation of the species.

We are requesting support under the ‘Funding workshops and events’ stream for two workshops that will run sequentially: 1) An IUCN-DWG Workshop (1-7 June 2023) that will assemble international experts and dhole researchers from all eleven dhole range countries, and 2) A National Species Action Plan for Nepal launch meeting (9-10 June 2023) attended by national government and community stakeholders. Additional support will be used to develop collaborations between Cornell University and local partners for future dhole conservation research in Nepal.