African Wild Dog / Painted Dog (Lycaon pictus)

I've got a ton of custom orders this month, somehow. The first and most important is being donated to an organization dedicated to the conservation of Lycaon pictus, the painted dog of Africa, which happens to be my second-favorite African carnivore right after the spotted hyena. Painted Dog Conservation Inc. is holding a fundraiser on April 23 at the Memorial Hall Exhibition Center in Perth, WA, Australia (click here for the Facebook event). If you're anywhere around Perth, I really suggest you go. I was invited by a good friend who is donating a couple of pieces herself, and she makes animal paintings that are worth a plane ticket to Perth to see. If you can't make it, though, I hope you'll consider helping the organization out all the same.

Here is a video about the trade of painted dogs, which considering that there are only about 3,000 of them left in the wild is a huge issue. This is something I wasn't aware of until fairly recently. I want to help out this organization further, so for the month of April, 20% of all my sales will be donated to Painted Dog Conservation.


Um. All I have to show in the way of pictures right now is what I have of the dog so far, which if all goes according to plan will be complete and in Australia within the next three weeks: