Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Category: Gonarezhou National Park, Other wildlife, zimbabwe | Date: Oct 30 2009 | By: zimbabwewilddogs

Hi folks,

Apologies for the deviation from wild dogs - yet again!  I just had to share this story with you.

The Zimbabwean lowveld has been struggling with some major bush fires in the last month.  Much of the southern half of the Save Valley Conservancy was burnt, tragically including Senuko Lodge which was one of the most stunning places it’s possible to imagine. 

Gonarezhou has also been fighting fires… In the process, Hugo and Elsabe van der Westhuizen from Frankfurt Zoological Society (which works with the Zimbabwean Parks and Wildlife Management Authority to help conserve the Gonarezhou ecosystem) noticed a baby porcupine fleeing from the fire.  He had badly burnt feet and was never going to beat the fire, so Hugo (amidst much cursing I would imagine!), used his shirt to grab the spikey little fellow and took him back to their camp for rehabilitation.

He adapted well to his new home, enjoying the darkness of his box during the day time and coming out at night to potter around and eat the offerings Elsabe put out for him (porcupines are naturally nocturnal).  He seems to be particularly keen on potatoes, apple and sadza (the local staple food of maize meal).

With the use of gardening gloves and oven gloves (!) we managed to treat the wounds on his feet and give him an injection of long-acting antibiotics - no small challenge, I might say! He seems to be a lot better already, and his feet are healing nicely.

Bless him!

I’ll let you know how he does and how his re-introduction back into the bush goes. 

Rosemary

Tags: bush fires, Gonarezhou, porcupine, zimbabwe

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