The current star at FreeMe KZN is our three week old male Cape clawless otter pictured above. He was discovered under a car at Fort Nottingham far from water with an injury to his neck leading us to believe he had been removed from the den by a predator. He has expensive tastes and is fed full cream evaporated milk and salmon capsules and is gaining weight daily. He is presently 2.2 kg in weight and will eventually weigh in the region of 23 kg. He will be sent to the Otter Working Group for his three-year rehabilitation back to the wild once all the necessary permits are in place.
We have also received three baby blesbok all of which were about a week old. One came to us from our own Amber Valley with wounds on its back legs which could have been caused by the electric fence. Another came from Kamberg after it was harassed by a cow and the third one was trapped in a fence and comes from Mount Verde. We believe that all were abandoned by their mothers due to the poor veld conditions which would adversely affect their condition and they would not have sufficient milk to nurture them. All three are thriving and recovering from their injuries.
An unusual new resident is a serotine bat and her two minute babies ‘housed’ under her wings. All three are doing well after they were caught by a cat.
The news of our collared jackals, five in all, recently released at Somkhanda Private Game Reserve in Zululand is that they are doing extremely well and have settled into their new environment and are providing foreign tourists with their first encounters with jackals in the wild. One of the males seems to be a loner and wanders hundreds of kilometres from the reserve but always eventually returns to Somkhanda. It is truly heart warming for us that they are doing so well in an area almost devoid of jackals and our rehabilitation efforts are now bearing fruit.
Our African rock python will also shortly be released at Somkhanda now that all its permits are in order. DNA was extracted at Ishaka Marine World in order to add to the African rock python data base maintained by Ezemvelo Wildlife KZN.
More good news is the release of ‘Bruce’ the wildebeest who was with us for eleven months and his soul mate the blesbok who came to us at the same time as ‘Bruce’. They were released together at a game farm in the Greytown area and by all accounts are settling in well.
The blue and grey duiker, plus the lone bushbuck, we were looking after for Ezemvelo Wildlife KZN have been released at one of Ezemvelo’s small game reserves in the New Germany area. During their stay with us two of the blue duiker (Mpiti) had babies and one of the grey duiker (common duiker) also gave birth. Whereas this is not a rarity it does indicate that these animals felt safe and secure in our recently constructed buck bomas. The vet was extremely complimentary about their excellent condition and all our staff are to be commended on their professionalism and dedication to these antelope.
We are presently involved in a drive to add new members at an annual fee of R100-00, but more about this next year.
As we hurtle towards the festive season all of us at FreeMe KZN would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all our Greater Amber friends for their support over the past year. May you all have a wonderful Christmas and healthy and safe New Year and please be extra careful on the roads over this period.
Until next year please take care.
Extracted from FreeMe Wildlife Rehabilitation's newsletter.