All hands on deck to rescue grysbokkie

Writer: Anina Lee.

The Whale Coast Conservation chameleon rescue volunteers are trained to have eagle eyes. It was this capacity that enabled one of the young chameleon rescuers to spot something under a tree as she and her mother drove past the green field near the old circus grounds.

She immediately asked her mother to stop to investigate. What a surprise when the ‘something’ turned out to be a Cape grysbok lying in the shade of a tree.

The pregnant grysbokkie lies sedated in the back of the bakkie after her injured hoof had been treated at the vet.

What was the bokkie doing there, far from its habitat in the Fernkloof Nature Reserve and on the wrong side of the Main Road? The likely explanation was not difficult to imagine, but what to do about the bokkie now?

It was not safe there, and crossing the road back to the reserve would be more dangerous than staying where she was. What’s more, the incident was starting to attract attention from passers-by, adding stress to the anxious antelope, not to mention overheard plans to “take it home for supper” that equally stressed the volunteers.

Click below to read more. (The full article can be found on page 5)