SANParks.org Forums

A reply to another post of mine reminded me of this incident last year that I thought I should just share as it seems appropriate and also just to serve as some form of acknowledgement to the people involved.

Last year we had a little rock kestrel outside our office ( I work in the Canal Walk area ). There was obviously something wrong with him because he was just sitting there and allowing people to come very close to him, upon seeing this I went to have a look and one of his wings appeared to be clipped. This obviously meant that the bird escaped from captivity somewhere...

So I caught the little guy and placed him in a bin with holes in the side inside our store room, I also darkened the room and cover most of the bin with some cloth to make sure the little guy would be still and not injure himself.

Now my search to find someone who can help began, I phoned world of birds in Houtbay and what a mistake, their exact words were that they do not go to fetch animals we must get it there before 16:00 if we want them to take it

Next phone cape nature conservation and in some way end up at Kirstenbosh's estate manager. His response was that he is just busy with something and he'll get back to me in 10min, 5min later my phone rings and he says he has contacted the people from SPCA wildlife unit and they will give me a call for directions. 20min later the SPCA wildlife unit pulls up infront of our building to pick up the bird. The guys from the SPCA was very knowledgeable and knew exactly where to start and explained the whole process of finding the owner or rehabilitating the animal to us.

So Hats off to Kirstenbosch and the SPCA wildlife unit

The proof of the pudding when wildlife 'resorts' are concerned, is do they REALLY care about the animals & birds or is it just a commercial venture.

Exactly the reason why this particular World of Birds will never again see the inside of my wallet...

Thanks for your vote of confidence guys, I work at Kirstenbosch and I will forward your remarks to Augustine.