A Derbyshire vet achieved her 1,000-day running challenge on New Year’s Day in support of a charity that is fighting to save the decline of Africa’s most persecuted predator, the painted wolf.

Wendy Furness, who lives near Ashbourne, ran in extreme temperatures ranging from -20degC in Finland (while visiting Santa) to 35degC during a heatwave in Italy. She also ran in the African bush, through the jungles of Sumatra, on ice in Japan and occasionally while dressed as a rhino or a dinosaur.

This was the second time that Wendy had tackled a 1,000-day streak – she got to 605 days previously before a knee injury on the ski slopes curtailed the attempt.

Wendy said: ”I have been a vet for 28 years, but my focus over the last few years has shifted to supporting conservation and wildlife projects. After becoming involved with the Painted Wolf Foundation in Africa, I’ve even been running in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia while tracking painted wolves far away from normal tourist routes. It was incredible, not least as it was probably somewhere nobody else has been running for a very long time.

Wendy Furness completed her 1,000-day running streak in the Cotswolds on New Year's Day (photo: Wendy Furness)

placeholder image — Wendy Furness completed her 1,000-day running streak in the Cotswolds on New Year's Day (photo: Wendy Furness)

“I first saw painted wolves in Botswana twenty years ago – a pack ran out in front of us and I hadn’t seen them before. They were stunning. The more I learned about them – how they work together, collaborate and look after each other – the more drawn I was to them. They are on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red list, which means they are critically endangered, with only around 6,500 left spread across southern and eastern Africa. I decided to use my 1,000-day streak to raise money for the Foundation to support the work being done to help these amazing animals.”

Keeping such an impressive streak going meant running through low points too. Wendy was very ill with dysentery for 10 days during the challenge. But the aim of raising vital funds for the charity kept her motivated and she has now run up nearly £4,000 in sponsorship via a GoFundMe page.

Painted wolves (also known as wild dogs) played a starring role in the BBC’s recent natural history series, Kingdom, narrated by Sir David Attenborough. But the creatures face many challenges, often pushed to the edges of national parks and into human-wildlife conflict areas to try and avoid the lions they compete with for territory and prey. The painted wolves are subsequently prone to being hit by cars or caught by snares and are vulnerable to disease such as distemper and rabies spread mostly by domestic dogs.

Both Wendy and her husband Michael volunteer at Maun Animal Welfare in Botswana, implementing distemper and rabies vaccination programmes in areas close to wild dog populations to protect people, domestic dogs and wildlife at the same time.

Wendy running in the Masai Mara region of Kenya (photo: Wendy Furness)

Wendy said: “I think we have a lot to learn from painted wolves. They are the ultimate collaborators, have great communication and greeting systems and look after everyone in the pack – they even give babysitting roles to those who can’t hunt. Their strength is working together – which has lots of parallels with business and specifically entrepreneurship, which is my own area of work.

‘I really want people to understand and admire them like I do, which is why I am raising money for the Painted Wolf Foundation. The foundation works with local partners to understand the challenges in individual landscapes and supports them to develop best practice strategies that can be adapted for the needs of local painted wolf populations.”

Wendy, 52, is also keen to stress the positive impact that running can have on mental and physical wellbeing, particularly among women of her own age whose muscle and bone density can deteriorate rapidly without regular exercise. She said: “Running has been life-changing for me in terms of my health and wellbeing, plus the upside of committing to running every day for 1,000 days has helped me experience places and people in ways I couldn’t really have imagined. When I’m running in the bush for example, I become much more at one with nature and really concentrate on sounds – and for safety reasons, really looking for animal tracks!”

To support Wendy’s fundraising for the Painted Wolf Foundation, go to www.gofundme.com/f/running-for-1000-days-for-painted-wolves