1995 expedition report article translation

 

ABIS Expedition 1995: Herman Bürk Travel Report  

Herman Bürk: A journey through the Sahel

After 20 years of intensively dealing with Azawakhs through their breeding and keeping, a long-cherished wish came true this year in February (1995), an expedition to a part of the area of origin in the "middle Niger Basin", to Burkina Faso in West Africa.

This trip was organized by the Association Burkinabé Idi du Sahel (A.B.I.S.). Ten people from Germany and Austria took part in this trip, which took us, within just under three weeks, from the capital Ouagadougou via Kaya, Dori, Gorom-Gorom and Markoy to Tin Akouf in the north of the country. From there, on the border with Mali, the explorations went east to Intangoum on the border of the state of Niger, west to the Fadar-Fadar region. The entire area traveled through can be assigned to the bush savannah and semi-desert. The population, which is ethnically mainly composed of Tuareg, Bella (former vassals or slaves of the Tuareg), and Peul (Fulbe), usually inhabits clay buildings in the places mentioned, in the north, the main observation area, live the sedentary or semi-sedentary Residents mainly in leather and mat tents made of millet straw, some of which are also inhabited by domestic animals and farm animals. On this trip I gained a lot of impressions, so that the main reason for the trip, the exploration of the Azawakhs, is only a part of the memories I brought back.

We met about 150 to 200 "Idis", as the greyhounds we call "Azawakhs" are called there. The term Idi simply means dog in local parlance. However, since there is no other type of dog, let alone breed of dog, in the entire area travelled, apart from Ouagadougou (approx. 700,000 inhabitants, including many Europeans), one always understands the sighthound of the Sahel zone. All of the dogs we encountered were of the same type, although of course the individual characteristics were different. The colors encountered show that there is no selection in this regard, even though only very few puppies are raised per litter. Here one or two puppies, usually males, are chosen while the rest of the litter is laid out in the sun to perish. If certain colors or drawings were preferred, it would be easy to select here for the reasons described. This also applies to all other characteristics.

Of course, the degrees of expression of the characteristics vary in a way that does not allow the term "high breeding" according to animal breeding standards. Along with very high quality dogs in the population, dogs of less good quality (by European standards) also coexist, often in the same family. This is caused by the randomness of the character distributions in the very random mating. Animal breeding knows the expression "landrace" here, which is defined in such a way that populations that are self-contained (isolate type) and in which no outside, foreign individuals penetrate the genetic material, develop a type over time - usually over centuries , showing same anatomy, performances etc. In this case, propagation is carried out without breeding planning mating. This is very true in the extant population of Azawakhs. All other livestock breeds from this region, probably from the entire Sahel zone, that I encountered on this trip showed the same breeding status. Whether camels, donkeys, zebus, goats, sheep, guinea fowl or chickens, the same pattern of landraces can be found everywhere. In the case of these livestock, selection occurs, if at all, based on a maximum of one or two characteristics. This can be seen very clearly from the different hair and feather colors in each case. The selection pressure is based exclusively on useful characteristics (meat, milk, etc.), as was the case in Europe up until the middle of the last century. In the case of the ldi or azawakh, these were certainly the hunting performance, i.e. speed, endurance and hunting skills, which were among the most important characteristics and therefore also appeared important for breeding.

But this has changed recently. During the almost three-week expedition, no huntable game was sighted by the author apart from a young captive jackal and several ground squirrels which disappeared into burrows. In addition, a general ban on hunting has been in place for six years, which entitles the military stationed in almost every town to shoot stray dogs under this pretext and under suspicion of rabies. Culinary reasons should also play an important role in the military. As a result, today there is almost no selection pressure in relation to the hunting characteristics of Azawakhs. Of course you get the question: "Where is your Idi?" as an answer "while hunting". 

With the semi-sedentary population and the nomads, the dogs, almost exclusively males, live singly or in pairs, in or by the tent. The dogs are kept completely free, i.e. without any restrictions on movement or freedom. And this alongside many other free-ranging farm animals such as chickens, sheep, goats, etc. in complete peace. Only in larger camps, where more than four or five Azawakhs are kept, is there a bitch among them, who then regularly gives birth to a litter. One can imagine that there is absolutely no way to keep hot bitches away from males. In the non-lockable tents, without collars and leashes - if available, only leather straps for decoration - it is simply impossible to separate males and females. When asked about the father of a fallen litter, a certain male is often shown or named. In reality, however, several males may have mated, so that paternity is almost never traceable. In the past, pregnancies were said to have been prevented with vaginal clamps, but this apparently no longer occurs today. Breeding is therefore more or less left to chance or the males that are in the immediate vicinity are used for breeding without selection or breeding goals.

To protect themselves from the sun, the bitches usually dig a 50 - 100 cm deep, open-topped cave in the sand under a thorn bush or acacia tree in the immediate vicinity of the owners' tents. There the puppies are born without help. In the first few days, the puppies to be left are selected, as already mentioned, usually one or two males. The selection criterion for the Bella (slaves, vassals) is said to be the firstborn, while the Tuareg are said to be based on strength, especially the chest and front limbs, as far as this is possible in the first few days. Such statements must be evaluated very relatively, as will be explained later.

Selected puppies are identified with a thin leather strap tied around their necks, and the rest of the litter is laid out in the sun to dry out and die. According to traditional beliefs, no animal may be killed without a particular reason. The sun takes care of this, including young sheep and goats whose mothers give too little milk or who are weak for other reasons and cannot survive on their own.

A conversation with one of Idis' breeders, who owned about 4 males and a female with a litter of 6 puppies, illustrates the current breeding situation aptly. This breeder, who has allegedly devoted himself to breeding for 19 years and inherited this from his father, could not begin with the question of a breeding goal or definition of characteristics at first. Only by paraphrasing the question (such conversations often went through up to 4 languages-Tamaschek-Dioula-French-German, but in this case only French-German) could produce an answer. Referring to his 10 month old male, the breeder said this is what an Azawakh should look like, he had no defined criteria to describe an ideal Azawakh. This male was indeed a single horse, built somewhat leptosome overall, with a tight gait, but definitely a solid Azawakh. When asked about the importance of individual anatomical features, the breeder named muzzle, ears and neck. He could no longer answer the question of what these three body parts should look like. I conclude from this conversation, and also from many other observations, that there are no real ideas defining a breeding goal and perhaps an ideal; the population represents a landrace in the truest sense of the word. Presumably it was never otherwise, with the exception of the already mentioned and probably practiced selection for hunting use and the resulting breeding ideas for this one trait.

In this context, I would also like to briefly shed light on the problem of notifications based on an incident: We met a very old woman in the Intangoum camp. When the "village elder" was asked how old this old woman was, he answered spontaneously: 80 years. About 15 minutes later the same question was asked by another traveler, again he answered spontaneously, but this time: 64 years. The different answers can have many reasons, possibly a lack of understanding of numbers, whereby illiteracy must be assumed, or covering up ignorance out of politeness towards the foreign guest. In general it can be said that statements should only be interpreted with extreme caution. Presumably it also depends on the wording of the question; perhaps the answers are also tailored to the expectations of the question.

The physical condition of the dogs encountered was very good in terms of nutritional status. On average, the dogs were in a fuller condition than we are used to in Europe. Like humans, the dogs are fed with millet and products from camel, goat or sheep's milk and, not very often, with slaughterhouse waste. The health of the population is a bigger problem. There is no veterinary medical care for livestock in this area at all. About 60-80% of the dog population shows visible demodicosis (mange) caused by the hairy mite Demodex canis. This is shown by hairless areas on the back, eyes, tail, etc., which are more or less accompanied by pustules and inflammation. It can be assumed that the entire population is infested with Demodex mites. Dogs are often found that show clear coordination disorders in the course of movement, in my opinion probably overcoming distemper infections. This may also be the reason that often all the puppies in an area die. Also not to be overlooked are the gross mechanical injuries caused by the thorns of the bushes and shrubs. The limbs were often punctured, with suppurating and very badly swollen tissue, some of these dogs were then unable to walk or severely disabled. As with humans, there were many eye injuries, including blindness, also caused by thorns. In the area of a marabout (spiritual Islamic leader also with secular powers) three somewhat ailing azawakhs (probably recovered from distemper) were found, which had slits on both sides of their chests with signs of the cross (scars). When asked about the reasons for these measures, said marabout replied that the dogs had drunk camel blood (taken during the rut to lower their temperament), which would inevitably lead to death. Slitting and subsequent wound treatment with herbs had to be used as a healing method. Apparently, in popular belief, drinking camel's blood and distemper are seen in connection. When asked about the fact that in this place the sheep and goats each have the same sign of the cross on their ears, zebus on their hind legs and camels on their shoulders, presumably as a sign of ownership, the marabout stuck to his version.

The behavior and nature of the dogs in the area of origin seemed to me hardly different from that of the still very young population in Europe. Very few of the dogs were immediately approachable and friendly to strangers like us. A large number of the dogs I observed behaved in almost the same way. When we came to a camp, the dogs usually got up from the sand, slowly but surely, barking and growling more or less loudly, to go to a safe distance of about 50 to 300 m from the camp. They stayed there until we left the area. In these situations, in the presence of their owners, the dogs never behaved aggressively toward defense or guarding. Some specimens also withdrew to the nomad tents. We also met several dogs at busy oasis markets, lying peacefully next to their owners, without any shyness and not tied. An exception, of course, were the dogs that were injured and probably damaged by distemper; they usually prevented them from coming closer with a clear growl as a warning, since they could not avoid the unpleasant situation. In contrast to their European colleagues, they have the opportunity in their country of origin to avoid an unfamiliar or negatively perceived situation by avoiding it.

The European population with a leash requirement and very precise space limitations (kennel, apartment, garden) lacks this possibility, which can sometimes lead to difficulties. On the other hand, it is not surprising that the dogs in the country of origin show no different character or behavior than the Azawakhs in Europe. Here it is important that a targeted choice of partner pays attention to "nature" and that the population, of course over many generations, is "Europeanized" in this regard in order to adapt the behavior to our circumstances. This has already been achieved with other oriental dog breeds. Of course, the external living conditions (environment, surroundings) have an enormous influence on behavior.

The behavior of the residents of the visited area towards their dogs was very different. While extremely few dogs were encountered in the capital, the local escorts (black Africans from the South who usually have no relationship with dogs) could be observed to be very inexperienced with dogs in terms of handling, touching, feeding, etc . At the holders and breeders deAzawakhs, the dogs have a fixed social place in the fabric of a settlement. Although they are kept very freely, they must fit strictly into the community. The dogs have to live peacefully with other animals, are not allowed to take any food from the "table", subordinate themselves very well to the human community, they very well receive orders from their familiar owners, which they also carry out. However, the owners are not always squeamish when it comes to training and enforcing their wishes, so nomads could be observed several times how they punished their dogs when they violated taboos when they felt unobserved. In our presence, however, the Idis were able to break some taboos, since the owners were aware of our appreciation of the dogs. Overall, however, the dogs were not shy or overly submissive towards their owners.

As already indicated, the quality of the Azawakh population varied greatly when measured against the specifications of the standard that was drawn up and applied in Europe. According to a Gaussian distribution, all characteristics contained in the gene pool of the population appear in the individuals of the region of origin. Accordingly, there are few high-quality dogs, many very typey, and of course specimens whose appearance is to be regarded as very moderate. However, the type, regardless of the quality of a landrace, is present in all specimens. There can be no question of hybridization in less attractive specimens, there is no potential for dogs from other breeds in the said area. However, a gradient in quality from north to south can be observed. In the north, on the borders of Mali and Niger, there are dogs that are more elegant and of better quality by our standards.

Of course, the question of possible imports to Europe arises at this point. All the characteristics that are necessary for the development of high breeding in Europe are present in large numbers in the original population. Thus, the very limited, small population in Europe could very well be supplied with genetic material for blood refreshment in larger quantities. A difficulty that can be overcome is the fact that excellent adult specimens can no longer be kept in a species-appropriate manner in Europe due to the imprinting in the area of origin (absolute freedom, completely different living conditions). Thus, one is dependent on the import of puppies at any stage (from about 8 days) up to young dogs of 3-4 months, the quality of which can only be guessed at. Above all, you only see the mother dog (father unknown) in puppies, while the young dogs are almost always found without a mother dog. In my opinion, imports make sense in any case, even at the risk that later only part of the imports can be used for breeding. Of the approx. 20 imports carried out under these conditions in recent years, nine (!!!) dogs have already won candidatures for championship titles at European shows according to the FCI standard, five dogs are national champions.

All in all, it was an exhausting but very informative journey to the country of origin of the breed, which gave me a lot of knowledge and clarity about the keeping conditions and breeding in this area.