Provide food & care for the wildlife Orphanage

Dear friend,

The pandemic did not stop animals needing our care unfortunately. Here is what happened during the last three months: 

• We welcomed two young orphan Sable antelopes. They arrived very weak and did not want to suckle the milk bottle. We really thought they wouldn’t make it but surprisingly, they started eating lucerne and game pellets. They are now reunited in a camp until they grow enough to be released. 

• Noko, our baby porcupine has grown very fast. On friday 24 September we released him into the bush to start his journey of being free. He obviously did not want to leave us but night after night, he eventually found his own way. 

• As Dassies (Rock Hyrax) are considered as pests in some areas, The South African Rehabilitation centre (in Gauteng) contacted us to relocate 6 rescued ones. We couldn’t say no obviously as they are Michèle’s favorite animals. The plan is to keep them for some time to get used to the area and then prepare them for a soft release.

• The rabbits and guinea pigs families are reproducing a bit too well so we had to relocate a few of them with trusted partners. They will also serve an educational purpose. 

• On the 28th of Sept during the morning stabling our team realised that our Rock monitor Lazarus had passed away. He arrived at DAKTARI in Sept 2007 with a back injury. Their life span is about 20 years in captivity. We therefore think he died due to old age as there was no other sign of illness or new injury. 

• Our dassies “Little Boy” and “Câline” seem to be pregnant again and could give birth at any time from now. These two dassies are tame and live freely in camp with Baba, the father! We might need to stop this reproduction, who should we do? The male or the two females? Please let us know what would be the fairest in your opinion?  

We thank you so much for your support toward our rescued animals, it means a lot to them! 

Animal reports

• Dassies - All the dassies we have in captivity are in good condition and are almost ready to be released into the bush. We are going to move them to an enclosure that is outside camp where we normally put them before release and then in some time we will open the gates/doors for them to be free. 

• Bush Baby - Banchee is in good condition and still comes out every night to eat. We built him a nice house to stay in as the previous one fell down. 

• Verreaux's Eagle Owls - Both of the Owls are in good condition and sleep most of the day and will only move around at night. They don't feel comfortable if you are at the same height as them then they start giving warnings to back off.

• Verreaux's eagle - Jumper had difficulties with his right wing as he scratched it open, we applied wound spray and Mercurochrome on the wing where it was scratched open but he then started to scratch it even more and pluck some feathers around it. 

• Wahlberg's Eagle & African Hawk Eagle - Both Eagles are in good condition and get well along with each other. They struggle to fly as they have broken wings but they comfortably jump onto the tree logs to get higher up. 

• Mongoose - The 3 mongoose that we have are in good condition. There are two mongooses that are selfish when it comes to food and do not allow the other one to eat until they are finished eating.

• Genet - The genet is in good condition but is getting old, He is about 11 years old.  

• Meerkats - Both meerkats are in good condition and are still running around and playing. They enjoy the sun a lot and spend most of their time lying or standing in the sun. 

• Spotted Eagle Owls - Both of the owls are in good condition. They are very protective about their house and feel safe there. The one owl is smaller than the other owl. 

• White Stork - The white stork's wing is broken and can see that is it, some feathers are hanging. The stork is scared of humans and moves away from them. 
• African Wood owls - They sleep most of the day and are in good condition. They stay in the same place everyday but at night move around and sit together. 

• Ostrich - The Ostrich are in good condition, the male plucked some of his own feathers and then he stopped doing it. Recently they started to mate and layed eggs for this month but we pick them up so that they don't get little ones. 

• Caracal - The caracal is in a healthy condition and enjoys his meal everyday. He is shy for humans and growls if he sees you. He comes out to walk around at night and early morning before going to sleep for the day. 

• Cheetah - The cheetahs are in good condition and love their food. They are getting old (11,12 years old) so to give them a bit of exercise we made a “zip line” where we zipline the meat down for them to catch themselves. 

• Eeyore - Eeyore is in good condition but is 90% blind. He roams freely in camp and when it is cold enjoys the heat of the donkey boiler. 

• Sable - We received two baby Sable Antelopes that were rejected by their mother and DAKTARI is doing its best  to give them a second chance. One was so kind with people and we then had to separate them; however, he's getting well now and we are moving them to a single enclosure. 

(Ringo and Rambo)

We are motivated by your support to keep doing this beautiful job that we are doing. We are so grateful for your support.

The pandemic is not yet over and we are still battling to save our organisation from shutting down.

Not only did we need funds to feed the animals but also to maintain their enclosure, health and pay our general running costs that we brought down to the minimum.

We realised that one of our Antelope (Nyala), Nyalou, had a leg problem. Nyalou was an orphan and was hand raised at DAKTARI. When he grew up very healthy, Nyalou was released in the bush where he could graze and get used to wild life. However he still comes to the camp regularly to pay us a visit. Every time we see him, we make him happy by giving some extra food so he knows we still love him.

During a walk around, our volunteers noticed that Nyalou had a leg problem and was therefore very vulnerable to predators. All animals at DAKTARI are part of the family so this situation worried us a lot.

Our budget is very limited at the moment but we still decided to call Dr Peter Rogers our precious wildlife vet and YOU for help!

The microproject [Help Nyalou to recover] was created to fund the vet cost for Nyalou’s onsite consultation. With your great support we raised $707.00 which fully covered the treatment.

Dr Peter Roger found out that Nyalou had a sickle bush thorn stuck in his foot, which he successfully treated with his usual passion and professional care.

We would like to thank Fondation Brigitte Bardot for their generous donation, supporting us to feed animals in the wildlife orphanage ! Watch their support Link

In March 2021 we took part in the Little X Little campaign where we managed to $1,026 which we assisted which we managed to welcome students bit by bit with it.

Our fundraising campaigns through GlobalGiving brought us lots of emotions as well when we saw how YOU responded so positively and added your generous contribution to our needs.

We have been able to maintain food and care for all the animals and even had the wonderful present of babies from Câline, our beloved Dassie who is a great part of the family.

One of our nearest Rehabilitation centres, Moholoholo, gave us two goats, Ben and Rosy. It was so beautiful to have them as part of our family but we suspected that Rosei was a pregnant mother of two babies (Twins).

I sincerely hope you are all healthy on your side and as positive as we all are here at DAKTARI.
Lots of love from DAKTARI and South Africa.

Links:

• Watch the Arrival of Ben and Rosei
• Watch Nyalou being treated