Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management (DNPWLM) acknowledged the need for professional research on the wildlife in Hwange National Park. (Hwange is Zimbabwe’s premier National Park and covers 14,5000 sq.km). To assist data collection a Carnivore Research Unit (CRU) was formed with the specific aim of conducting very detailed and long-term research on all carnivores in the Park but particularly the large carnivores of lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta) and painted hunting dog (Lycaon pictus).           
        
The Carnivore Research Unit began operation in March 1999 and is assisted by a number of volunteer Ecologists and Zoologists who run research projects on the individual carnivores. One of these Zoologists is Nolwenn Drouet-Hoguet, a French woman, who from March 2004 has taken over the Hyaena Project which was initiated by Julia Salnicki in 1999.   
   
For this new phase of the Hyaena research (from 2004 to 2007), Nolwenn Drouet-Hoguet will run the project alone. At present DNPWLM does not have enough trained ecologists of its own so Nolwenn continues to train the National Parks staff attached to the Carnivore Research Unit as part of her research and conservation studies.