Scroll down for updates on our jackals and bush pigs. More under General
2012
JACKALS
7 January: Jack and Laura no longer need or use their overnight shelter; instead they have made themselves various “sleeping tunnels” in different parts of the bush in the garden. They can be seen early in the mornings and then from 16.00 onwards, waiting for Lihi and their food to arrive. They have decided they do not like to live on the sea-side of the house and are now mostly to be found in front of the house. Fortunately there are more than enough bushes and trees for them to play around in and for them to be safe and hidden when they want to be. They are fully integrated with the dogs and the cat that share the garden with them and everybody gets on very well. They are very active during the night and in the mornings we find various bits and pieces they have dug up or found around the place. Laura’s favourite trick is to run into the lounge in the evening while Ashley and Charlene are watching TV, where she then grabs Charlene’s shoe and runs away with her prize as fast as she can, setting a big chase in motion, with all the dogs and Ashley running after her to rescue the shoe! Jack and Laura are both very happy when they see the dogs first thing in the morning and will not leave the dogs alone until they have received a greeting from each one. There is not much difference in size between Laura and Jack now, and they are both very attractive jackals.
BUSH PIGS
17 March: Ever since Sally’s brother Butch passed away after eating a poisonous plant, Sally has been very lonely. The volunteers would take turns and spend the day with her, but once it was night time and they had to leave for the day Sally would start crying. Around the same time Sally was struggling to be on her own, we released 10 rescued bunnies we received a while back, into the park. Fortunately one of those bunnies decided to make Sally’s enclosure his new home, and since then Sally has a new friend to keep her company and to share her food with.
27 February: Butch and Sally are settling down nicely in their new enclosure. They seem to be growing very slowly, which means they are still quite small and cuddly, which the volunteers love. They’ve been off the bottle for about 2 months now, but Sally still tries to suckle on fingers. They love getting their bellies rubbed and fall straight down when you do so. Whenever it’s feeding time, they get overly excited and start squealing. The other day Butch ate something he shouldn’t have and felt a bit sorry for himself, so we treated him with a bottle, which he loved – only problem was keeping Sally away for long enough for him to finish.
7 January: Butch and Sally are loving their new home, but are growing so quickly that at this very moment their new enclosure is being fixed for their safe move. Piggies’ new home has an interesting location, with the crocodiles Chris and Owen as their next-door neighbours, and the caracal Kenny located across the way. They will be moved to their new enclosure by Wednesday at the latest. They are now fed 3 times a day but are completely weaned off the bottle. Their diet is now similar to Mobes’s, just without any meat or chicken.
