The one thing that the team of the Cape of Good Hope SPCA Wildlife Department like more than a wildlife rescue… is a wildlife release!
“being able to release an injured wild animal back into its natural environment healed and healthy is a special kind of joy the team loves most.”
The SPCA Wildlife Department team have had their experienced hands (and short-term care facility) full this summer season with animals ranging from bats to baboons, polecats to porcupines, seals to snakes, guinea pigs to genets, lots of tortoises and a terrapin all needing of some care.
While the Wildlife Department and the SPCA’s versatile veterinarians do their best to save each and every animal that they rescue, sometimes a happy outcome isn’t always possible and the team knows well the heartbreak of having to ease an animal who is beyond repair into the pain-free ever-after, but where there are stories of sadness there are tales of triumph too.
Last week the Wildlife Department team was able to release a young spotted genet cat who was caught inside a chicken coop and a polecat who was cornered by dogs on a rural plot back to their natural ranges, away from human dangers.
Said Jon Friedman of the Wildlife Department, “being able to release an injured wild animal back into its natural environment healed and healthy is a special kind of joy the team loves most.”
The SPCA works closely with CapeNature to locate the best possible release sites, each carefully chosen according to the most current research on where those species are naturally found and where releasing an animal won’t harm the environment it is being released into or upset the natural balance of that area in any way.
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