Bloody fate of the painted wolves fighting to survive

PAINTED wolves are the most-threatened species in the world – with lions, crocodiles and hyenas their arch enemies.

Also known as the African wild dog with their distinct markings, there are only 6,600 of the species left and it is a dangerous place for them.

“Their world is shrinking fast”, says Sir David Attenborough in tonight’s episode of hit BBC One series Dynasties.

The matriarch of one pack, Tait, is forced to fight another deadly adversary – her ambitious daughter Blacktip.

It is a tense, bloody battle by the Zambezi River in East Africa for the two dogged rivals.

In one of the most-violent episodes, Blacktip’s menacing mob is filmed arranged in formation like the protagonists in movie Reservoir Dogs.

As Blacktip pursues her mother ever further into “the dangerous lands”, both must face the might of a painted wolf’s greatest enemy – lions. Hyenas and crocodiles also threaten the wolves and their pups as the turf war intensifies.

The show, which has attracted weekly audiences of more than five million, has been praised for its spectacular filmmaking.

But if has also sparked controversy, with crews stepping in to save the lives of threatened animals. Critics have claimed this “breaks the cardinal rule” of wildlife shows to never intervene.

In episode two, producers saved a group of young emperor penguins that had been blown into an icy gully. The animals were too small to climb out so the crew dug a ramp and the seabirds clambered to freedom.

Sir David praised the crew. But Professor Keith Somerville of the University of Kent, a specialist in the media coverage of conservation, disagreed. He claimed Dynasties was like a “soap opera”, and gave viewers a “narrow and distorted view” of the natural world.

“In last week’s episode – about lions in Kenya – the script read by David Attenborough was full of embroidery and misleading explanations whose purpose seemed to be to build up jeopardy throughout each episode. This is a device used now consistently in wildlife documentaries. The BBC values of inform, educate and entertain seem to have come down to entertain at all costs even at the price of misinformation.”

The BBC refused to comment, but Sir David has said the series would be “gripping and truthful” and would make people marvel at nature.

He added: “If they appreciate the wonder, then they care about it, and that’s when it brings you to your other mission – which is to make people interested, then more likely to care and conserve, and become active in saving the planet.”

Dynasties, BBC One, tonight, 8pm

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