Hello Everyone

Spring is really here! On Monday I saw the first yellow billed kite of the season and on Wednesday two swallows! The first baby sunbirds have already fledged and the guinea fowl have paired off. The wild flowers here on the farm are at their best, which is a good  excuse to drop chores and take a walk in the middle of the day. Oliver the owl is also very ‘broody’, presenting us with his food (usually a chick) and jumping our feet – he prefers it if you are wearing slippers!

A lot of clearing and burning of the invasive black wattle has taken place here over the last month and the appearance of the farm is so much improved.  

There are very few birds here in rehab at the moment but the breeding season has started so I guess they’ll start arriving soon.

The sparrow hawk that has been here for a while is finally ready for release and am making arrangements to return him to the farm where he was found.

We have four bokkies in our care: the two steenbokkies, Jake who has the artificial legs is a permanent resident and Rosie a delicate little female,Gutsy a springbok and Grysie a tiny grysbokkie.

Jake is doing fine on his artificial legs. Jonathan the specialist was here a few weeks ago to make new moulds of his legs for new prosthetics as the ones he has are showing signs of severe stress from all the hard wear they get. I have had a bit of a problem with one of his legs. When I put his socks on in the morning I inadvertently left a wrinkle, I noticed he was limping at about midday, took the leg off to only to see that the wrinkled sock had rubbed a hole in his leg! He is now wearing a 20cc syringe (wide and roomy) instead of the prosthesis to give protection and support while the sore heals – it is healing well.

Rosie pops over the fence every now and then and disappears for a day or so but always comes back and waits at the gate to be let in! She and Jake have a very close bond and can usually be found lying close together.

The little springbok is one of the farm babies, he was injured by a zebra and was unable to stand or walk when we got him. He has done well however, still a little unsteady but walking and running and even managing a little pronk. We named him Gutsy because he has fought so hard to get up and learn to walk again. He was very difficult to feed at first but once I learnt “springbok talk” and he got the hang of the bottle it was easy, I just call him with a few grunts and he arrive as fast as his legs will carry him! Unfortunately he seems to have developed an intolerance to cows milk, for the last week he has had really bad diarrhea, we really battled to clear it. Yesterday I took him off everything else and started him on goats milk and he seems much better, so lets hope the problem is solved or we may loose him. 

After the initial struggle to get him used to taking a bottle the little grysbokkie is doing well. He and Gutsy  have ‘made friends’ and spend a lot of time grazing and playing together.

A few weeks ago Nature Conservation brought us an adult Caracul. She was emaciated covered in ticks and very weak when she was taken to the vet in Porterville who treated her and got rid of the parasites. We put her into our Predator enclosure gave her lots of food and and vitamin and mineral additives. After two weeks she looked beautiful and was ready to go. We trapped her, checked her and as she was in great condition Nature Conservation returned her to the farm where she was rescued. Just for a change the farmer and his family were delighted to have her back. Normally farmers regard these beautiful animals as vermin and just want to destroy them. So just for a change a nice out come for a beautiful animal!