A fire and the death of a baby elephant have left the Shamwari Game Reserve staff devastated and mourning. “Fifteen hundred hectares of our property were destroyed,” said Johan Joubert, manager of Shamwari.
A fire and the death of a baby elephant have left the Shamwari Game Reserve staff devastated and mourning. “Fifteen hundred hectares of our property were destroyed,” said Johan Joubert, manager of Shamwari.
The 9 February fire, which is believed to have started outside the boundary of the reserve, destroyed a great deal of vegetation which consists mostly of grazing and thick forest.
The blaze also damaged the fences surrounding the property. “We have a lot of firefighting equipment on the reserve so that was very helpful,” said Joubert.
The Grahamstown Fire Department reported that the fire had been started by lightning which could be
seen just outside Grahamstown on Tuesday afternoon.
The department is urging the public to be aware of fire hazards exacerbated by the hot weather. South African Weather Service spokesperson Garth Sampson said that February is known to be a hot month across the Eastern Cape and the discomfort index is very high.
“Grahamstown should have experienced thunderstorms later in the week, but the fire risks are still definitely high for the area,” said Sampson.
Mark Ribon, the head of the Lalibela Group, could not comment at the time of going to print as he was busy fighting fires in the surrounding areas.
And on Friday last week Themba, the baby elephant rescued two years ago by the Mantis Conservation team at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve and nursed at the Rehabilitation Centre at Shamwari Game Reserve, died.
Themba was famous across the globe as his rescue story appeared on Animal Planet, and he was even more popular for his infamous relationship with Albert, the sheep.
When the Mantis team rescued Themba, it required intensive team work among the wildlife personnel and volunteers to comfort him through his first few months at Shamwari.
But last week Themba’s keeper noticed that he was behaving strangely and reported the behaviour to the resident veterinarian. On examination, Themba showed signs of severe colic and initial treatment was ineffective.
His condition improved. But later that night,despite more treatment, Themba went into a coma and died on Friday morning.
The post mortem showed that his large intestine was twisted, a condition almost impossible to fix with surgery because of elephants’ size and anatomy.
