Article Published in Dogs in Canada Magazine

Basenji

Back to the Future

Dr. Jo Thompson, director of the Lukuru Wildlife Research Project and a renowned wildlife biologist, has graciously agreed to write this months column. Her work has enabled her to import four Basenjis into the U.S. from the very center of the native Basenji range, deep in the jungle.

The future for the Basenji breed remains in its past. For 17 years I have lived and worked much of the time in the very heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the Basenji country of origin (COO). Each time I step through the thickly tangled jungle portal to reach the distant land I longingly call home, I am catapulted back in time.

During the period 1884-89, Herbert Ward made first contact with the people along the Congo River as he journeyed with Henry Morton Stanley into the then unexplored territory of central Congo. Ward acquired an intimate knowledge of the Congo country and its people. he learned their language and entered into the lives. He introduced us to the pre-contact Basenji; the Congo hunting dog Ward wrote, "It has a foxy head, sharp nose and pricked, triangular ears, smooth, fawn-colored coat, and coiled tail. It wails and howl's, but never barks." (A Voice from the Congo by Herbert Ward, page 148)

Nearly 125 years later, this same breed type can still be discovered in a very few isolate pockets associated with remnant forest dependent people who remain reliant on ancestral ways of life. These dogs that are untouched by outside breeds mirror the original state of the early ancestral type. As the world moves toward globalization, these rare dogs risk losing their genetic uniqueness due to the threat of outside dogs being introduced to the region.

Yet today there remains no infrastructure, no roads and no facilities. To reach this destination, I charter a private bush pilot and plane to fly me into the area, with a refueling stop en route. Once I get into the site, it is a rigorous, physically demanding trek overland on foot for five days across rugged terrain in harsh and inhospitable conditions to get to the villages.

In 2007, I began an effort to import pure Basenjis from the Congo with the help of a managing team of Basenji experts. We hope to contribute positively to the breed's future by renewing and reinforcing its ties to the past.