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WORLD OF BIRDS
WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
NEWSLETTER NO. 282 MAY/JUNE 2006
Click Here to Download the full version May/June 2006 Newsletter .PDF(1MB)
The full version contains all the articles and images
THE SWISS FLAG KEEPS FLYING HIGH
The month of May behind us was one of the worst ever, income-wise. Winter had set in, seemingly to stay, with heavy rain much of the time, and like a curse every weekend. Some days were so dark, you almost needed a torch to go through the Park and see the birds.
It was of great concern that the overdraft limit from the bank had already fully been used, even before the real winter period had started and now, as so many times before, we are trusting a Higher Power to carry the Sanctuary through into the faraway summer.
Whatever the weather, the basic overheads stay the same and it is tragic when the entire wage packet for the staff of 40, at the end of the week, is borrowed money from the bank.
Overseas tourism to Cape Town has persistently been shrinking again over the past three years, and there is no turn-around in sight. The Chinese tour groups which carried us during that period have found a more rewarding venue by visiting five European countries for the same cost of touring South Africa. And then, of course, there is the ongoing news of rampant crime going out of South Africa.
These are the times when we count the blessings of having Friends who have the means and the goodwill of sending contributions, often far exceeding the membership fees.
A very special mention must be made of (again) Swiss Friends, Hansjörg and Franziska Saager, and the newly introduced travel companions Christoph and Brigitta Blangey and, of course, Mia Conzett. Together they carried us on with SF9000, (R27 000), which made all the difference in the world.
We have much to be grateful for. Not only during the difficult times, but also when the going is good. And we will never forget the many blessings of the past. And the future? Well, let’s talk about the near future. The winter holidays are now with us. It all depends on the weather to keep our ship on calm waters. Let’s not worry before the time.
CROCODILES FOR REAL
Eric Steadman of Betty’s Bay has sponsored the long-intended enclosure for crocodiles at the estimated cost of R25 000.
CROCODILES! Crocodiles at the World of Birds?
Are you people mad?
Well, not actually. As a growing zoological institution which depends on public goodwill and attendance, we have to offer what visitors want, and from our side we will regard the crocodiles more as part of another inter-active display to go with the birds.
We know that the crocodiles will be fine, but the other inter-active creatures will be an experiment.
For starters, the intended crocodiles will be young, and well fed enough not having to depend on their own killing for survival. In nature we have harmonious pictures of crocodiles lazily lying in the sun on a river bank, with scavenging storks strolling past and hamerkops, and plovers picking food remnants from the crocodiles’ teeth when the bask with their mouths wide open.
We’ll add a host of small birds, from finches to doves, weavers to starlings which, surely, are of no culinary interest to the reptiles, and perhaps bush squirrels.
In a personal discussion with Mr Steadman who is very much in his senior years, he very generously offered to make his own personal contribution to the World of Birds, and the idea of the new concept with crocodiles as an experimental main feature appealed to him.
Is the Crocodile Inter-Active Display going to be another experiment where ‘experts’ would say it cannot be done? We’ll never know unless we try!
Thank-you Mr Steadman for being daring with us. Your name will be honoured on a plaque and appreciated in the years to come.
We have many other plans for the future which depend on participation. This is also the time to remember with gratitude the participants of the past. Where would we have been without them?
THE COST OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Year after year of the same thing puts you into a comfort zone. The Newsletters are produced and go out as a matter of routine, and the only real painful moment is when the cheque is made out for posting.
Deteriorating printing service made us search for another option, and once it was found and the April Newsletter had gone out, that someone confronted me with the question whether I actually knew what the total production costs were.
Nobody likes bad news, but I was told anyhow. The printing of 1200 Newsletters = R1700. Postage = R4700; we also had to add the trips into town for delivery of the ‘raw material’ and the collection of the finished product. The time involvement of World of Birds staff is not included.
When the cost to our individual members is calculated we end up with an approximate cost of R6.50 x 6 which is R39.00 for the year. When this is deducted from the annual memberships (pensioner, single, family), the benefits to the Sanctuary shrink considerably.
So, from the strictly business point of view the Newsletter is not an asset. But then many other World of Birds activities and involvements are not assets either, in fact many are liabilities.
Where do the benefits come in? Already more than 30 years ago it was realised that keeping in touch with our members, friends and supporters was most important when looking into the long-term future. It was imperative then, as it is now, to communicate and talk about the good and the bad, the failures and the achievements, and the plans and hopes for the future.
On our own we could never have sustained the service of a Wildlife Sanctuary as a liability, as compared to the Bird Park which was supposed to give us the comfortable income and living everybody is expecting from their work and from life.
Keeping in touch with our friends worldwide, through the Newsletter, had brought the benefits over the years which cannot be measured by the cost of a Newsletter.
The friendships have led to permanent goodwill and also to donations, sponsorships and even bequests which made World of Birds grow to the caring institution it has internationally become renowned for. The money seemingly wasted on an unaffordable publication has been a good investment. It is also the recorded history of the World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary.
CANNED LION HUNT CONTINUES
In the latest Game & Hunt Magazine is an article promoting a very upmarket hunting destination near the Botswana border, mainly promoting lion hunt. The lions are specifically and selectively bred for trophy hunting.
They are ‘released four days before the hunt to wander free and have to be tracked down’.
What utter rubbish! A captive-bred well-fed and pampered lion will probably just lie down where he has been dumped in the bush and either lie down and wait for his next meal to be supplied, or stroll for a while disorientated and lost. By day four he will become pretty irritated and hungry and thus seemingly ‘ferocious’.
The sucker of a fearless hunter will be led in circles through the bush, searching for and ‘tracking’ a wild lion, with adrenalin pumping and the game ranger egging him on.
And then face to face with a ferocious and angry lion. In this life-threatening stage act it is either the lion or the hunter. Only one will survive. Well, we don’t have to answer that one. It is the model example of a canned lion hunt. Shame to the lion farmer and to the hunter. But the truth must come out, and there must be an end to this shameful farming and hunting that gives South Africa a bad name.
World of Birds says Thank-you
Following a very extensive, factual and complimentary article, written be Eva Dölitzsch-Tatzreither, in the German language AFRIKA-KURIER, the magazine for German-speaking readers in Southern Africa, the attached ‘Thank-You’ article was the appropriate follow-up:
Walter Mangold, founder and director of the largest Bird Park in Africa – World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary & Monkey Park – in Hout Bay near Cape Town, would like to use this opportunity to thank all those who make it possible to care for the 200 birds which find help every month at the Sanctuary, especially from Switzerland and Germany, and all other friends and sponsors throughout the world.
Almost 44 000 birds and animals have been cared for over the past 33 years, without any support ever from local authorities, always with the ‘accusation’ that World of Birds is private.
The most uplifting support in the past came through some bequests which not only made it possible to grow, but also to overcome the hurdles during the transformation to South Africa’s democracy.
World of Birds has 1000 members who assist with the very high running costs, and who also make it possible to carry on with the always necessary improvement and new projects.
At the entrance to the Park fly prominently the German and Swiss flags, and when visitors ask why? The answer is simply: that’s where the animal friends come from who care and who assist.
PLAYING WITH WORDS
A newspaper article reported a new Hartlaub’s Gull nesting site within the protective grounds of a Cape Town oil refinery. Well and good. Better than breeding on the roof tops of Sea Point hotels and blocks of flats, where the gulls are a terrible nuisance.
It’s the playing with words which shows how the proverbial cat can be set amongst the pigeons (or gulls).
The article starts with the statement that Hartlaub’s Gulls are amongst the 10th rarest gull species in the world. “Oh my goodness”, the uninformed bird lover will think, “another little birdie on the brink”.
What does it mean to be amongst the world’s ten rarest? Because ours, endemic or not, can hardly be classified as endangered or even as rare.
The sensationalist report gets worse when it is added that the population of Cape Town outnumbers the gulls ten to one. For the reader who doesn’t think further and doesn’t put two and two together, this could mean utter doom.
But when you bother to make a simple deduction of 10% from Cape Town’s population of 4 million, then we are comfortably sitting with 400 000 gulls with no radical risk to survival that I could think of. So, why did these ‘facts’ have to enhance the oil refinery gull breeding story? Beats me.
CHILD PSYCHOLOGY
How do you wean a six year old human child off the bottle? Simple. You tell him that there are baby monkeys which badly need milk bottles to be raised.
Then you take the young philanthropist to the World of Birds, and with a little pre-booked handover ceremony you praise the brave little boy for this generous gesture.
Another milestone has been reached in his growing potential, and a long standing problem has been solved for the parents.
THE AMERICAN WAY
Whatever works for the Americans does not necessarily work for us, although we could envy their keen competitiveness in their aim to please customers. David Biggs writes in the Cape Argus that USA and Canada zoos, museums and shopping malls where people gather, were very child-friendly and offered the free use of ‘strollers’.
In our society the people are so child-friendly that they would walk out with child and stroller and all, just as they used to do with shopping trolleys, until every supermarket and mall had to resort to additional security by paying for ‘Trolley Management’.
We charge R20 for the hire of a stroller, and so far all of them have come back at the end of the service, but they have to be replaced regularly. The hiring fee pays for the purchase of new ones, and our charge is not a matter of greed, but of breaking even.
As for the display of vandalism and broken ornaments from the Magic Forest, now visitors have even stolen broken pieces from this display, instead of putting them to shame by showing that free additions to the Park are not working too well. Could it be that the American culture is still somewhat ahead of us? Do they have hose-fittings stolen from water taps on a regular basis?
And while we are on the subject of bemoaning losses, would you believe that we feed every day 50kg of poultry and game pellets to the legions of Egyptian Geese and Sacred Ibises which descend on the Park at feeding times, stealing the food from our Park birds. How do we resolve this costly problem?
nce we have the lease and control the large farm dam on the soon to be Public Open Space (can there be any doubt?), we intend feeding the wild birds in the proposed Wild Bird Sanctuary. The public will have free (but limited) access to watch the birds, but we hope that their appreciative supportive donations will pay for the upkeep.
“If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.”Douglas Adams
BIRDWATCHING AT SILVERMINE
Well, actually it was not a birdwatching hike when Debbie and I took our good friends from Berlin for an afternoon hike up the mountain in Silvermine Nature Reserve. It was a cloudy, cool day with the occasional gusts of wind, and it was a good healthy exercise. Admittedly it was at the end of summer, and in spite of a few tentative new flowers, the vegetation was no reflection of the richness of our famous fynbos that will spring to life after the first winter rains.
If our friends had been birdwatchers and expecting to experience rich wildlife in the nature reserve, they would have been terribly disappointed. We saw one Rock Kestrel, heard another one in the distance, and saw one lizard. No sugarbird and no sunbird. Nothing.
Admittedly it was the ‘dormant’ time of year between seasons. But one bird seen on a three hour hike? Birdwatchers beware!
Our indigenous nature freaks who wax about biodiversity and the richness of our floral kingdom will have to accept that something is seriously going wrong and that the ‘richness’ is not any more what it used to be. Blaming it on the yearly fires could be knocking at the right door. The fact is that wildlife and vegetation may never recover to the glory of the past. The fires have taken care of that.
THOSE CHICKEN SOUPS
These are not the pages to review books. But I have to make an exception. I have no time to read fancy magazines and novels. With a family with small children and so much professional literature to cope with, every day is just too short.
Just as well I read the Victor Hugo’s, the Dostojevskis’. Tolstois’, Pasternaks’, and poets, philosophers and mystics in my very much younger years.
When my teenage daughter Tamarin gave me ‘Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul’ I felt obliged to read it.
What can I say? 101 Easy to read stories that bring joy to your heart and tears to your eyes. Stories that make you proud to be alive. Stories that connect you with your soul and bring out emotions you didn’t know you had.
Buy this book or get it from the library. It will uplift you
CHEAPER CHINESE CHOICES
While the population of China keeps on growing by the frightening million, their tourism support for South Africa is shrinking. Over the past few years World of Birds benefited from one to four tour groups every day. Now they are rarely seen, and the lack of income for us is tragic.
South Africa has simply out priced itself, with the strong Rand and unrealistic charges at restaurants, hotels and most tourist venues. We made enquiries and were told that the Chinese groups can tour five European countries for the same cost of visiting South Africa! Isn’t it about time our very highly salaried tourism authorities admitted defeat and gave us an honest assessment of the true state of affairs?
Everybody in the business knows that tourism in Cape Town has been going downhill for the past three years. An additional setback for us is that even school tours have been shrinking, mainly because of unaffordable bus hire fees, the risk of bus accidents, and even hijacking. Will it ever get better again?
DOUBLE STANDARDS
If the Cape Nature authorities insisted on our Cattle Egrets to be ringed prior to release, seeing that they were bred in captivity, and insisting on a veterinary certificate of health, then why could the City of Cape Town obtain captive-bred Yellow-billed Ducks from Swellendam, just like that, and release them on a Durbanville dam to satisfy the emotions of the residents who had Mallards forcibly removed and killed? Double standards? You bet.
GIVING THE AGE AWAY
Should I be embarrassed to admit of being old-fashioned and over the hill? Believe it or not, but all the newsletter stories have consistently been typed on a very faithful forty year old Adler portable typewriter. Does anybody still remember the olden days when ‘portable’ typewriters were either a luxury or of utter necessity in the office? Then we were the same Yuppies as those of today who wouldn’t be seen dead without a laptop or ‘notebook’, and some kind of music or phone permanently stuck in the ear.
To mitigate I confess that my A4 hand-typed pages go to another office to be converted into computer-based (what’s the name for that?) re-styling to ultimately become the Newsletter.
I have been eyeing the adverts for HP laptops so I can grow up and do my own word processing without Tippex to correct mistakes, and waste less of other people’s time. There are other urgent financial priorities to be sorted out first on the Park, while I retain the love affair with the ‘portable’, which I remember struggling to pay off over 12 months in those long gone days.
I do have a cell phone, though, but the number is in the little black book, in case I need it. It’s kept in the briefcase for family emergencies. “What’s your cell number?” I am asked daily. “Sorry, I don’t have a cell” I declare proudly. I have made it so far in life that I don’t have to be at anyone’s beck and call. Now that’s what I call progress in this day and age. I’ve made it in life!
HOW MUCH FOR THE BIG ONES?
According to the former chairman of the WWF-US, Russel Train, a hunted elephant could economically benefit local people by up to R100 000 per animal, counting in the hunting fee, ivory, hide and meat.
White Rhino sell for close to R200 000 at auctions, and Black Rhino for R450 000. That’s for live ones. Trophy hunters pay considerably more, otherwise rhino wouldn’t be an investment proposition.
Buffalo sell for R120 000 to R150 000 for the live animal. Trophy hunters will have to double that for the privilege of straddling a dead one, with the picture taken, and the mounted head proudly above the fireplace.
While live lions fetch R23 000, a hunted and stuffed one can bring as much as R230 000, ten times more. Leopards bring in between R45 000 and R80 000 as trophies, and South Africa allows 75 of those to be harvested every year.
We just thought to let you know, in our defence of those who claim that World of Birds is enriching itself ‘from our diminishing wildlife resources’, as a previous nature conservation authority did (bless his soul) when we applied for a permit to sell a captive-bred pair of Egyptian Geese.
With reminders of the values as indicated above, and us reading every environment and wildlife publication to keep up to date with what the conservationists are up to, will we ever forget the Egyptian Goose episode?
The purpose of surplus bred birds at World of Birds is to increase their numbers, not to harvest. At times it seems to be easier to get a permit to shoot an animal dead, than for us to buy or sell a surplus captive-bred one. Being compelled to deal with permit-issuing ‘authorities’ is an eye-opener, to say the least.
But then, we are not amongst the hunters who spend R2000 million every year, which is considerably more than the income generated from eco-tourism. (Landbou Weekblad 2/9/2005)
PENGUINS MEET LEONARDO
It is not often that we hire out birds or animals for advertising purposes and film shoots, but the income from this source can be very rewarding and helps to keep the sanctuary going. Even the animals, at times, have to help towards their upkeep.
The usual requests are for parrots and monkeys, but dassies and porcupines and caracal had to do their share, and even the odd starling, crow and owl had to try for an Oscar.
No birds are hired out during the breeding season, where it applies, but most are hand-reared and tame and don’t mind the change of environment.
R15 000 is not to be rejected easily, but could only be considered because it was out of the breeding cycle. All our 14 African Penguins needed to be props at a beach scene for the day at Oudekraal, to make sure Leonardo Di Caprio would come across favourably in the presence of the curious birds, whatever it was that he had to do.
At World of Birds we made sure that every visitor was informed that there would be no penguins on display for the day, but even then we had to face the stingy oddballs who tried to get out of paying the entrance fee by claiming that, actually, they were coming specifically to see the penguins.
WHAT IF…
What if all the scientists and conservationists were wrong, and global warming did not generate from polluted air, the shrinking ozone layer, and from deforestation, but from the warming of the oceans?
What a thought, and what a possibility indeed!
It is a possibility that I read in a book on alternative ways of thinking (Kryon). After too many years of being convinced over the cause for global warming, the alternative option will be denied by all. But what if…?
ECOTOURISM AND HUNTING – NO OPTION
An interesting snippet of information was gained from an article in Farmer’s Weekly on The Business of Hunting. It argued that it is misinformed wanting to outlaw hunting in favour of ecotourism, and because hunting is seen as inhumane.
The assumption that game farming could rely on ecotourism for survival is ignorant of the fact that up to 20% of animals get trampled, maimed and killed during translocation alone. Many more die from stress related causes and non-adaption to unaccustomed feeding regimes afterwards. ‘They die in agony, not cleanly and instantly as usually happens when they are shot with a modern rifle.’
Not much of a choice, is it?
A recent family holiday in Namibia was an eye-opener. Up and down the country there were Game Lodges and Game Conservancies. It didn’t take us long to realize that all this so-called conservation actually thrived on and depended on hunting.
While the South African hunting industry is in confusion through the new gun import regulations, US hunters are switching to a more uncomplicated Namibia. Namibia’s professional hunting industry has a wonderful relationship with their government, with the country’s president being a hunter himself.
5363 International hunters (not counting the locals) visited Namibia last year during the trophy hunting season, ‘harvesting’ 22 462 animals of 40 desirable species.
GUINEA PIGS WALL TO WALL
A year ago World of Birds made a lowly start with 10 Guinea Pigs transferred from Adventure Farm. From these humble beginnings there are now about one hundred, and there would be many more if some had not been returned to the educational farmyard in Philippi.
There are two separate groups, those with smooth and the other with curly fur. On a raised level next to the circular walk through the Sanctuary they are on eye level with the children, and every visitor is charmed by this furry congregation, especially with so many active run-around babies at all times.
With more local families discovering the benefits of having a safe, clean, entertaining and educational wildlife institution right at their doorstep, the number of Hout Bay mothers visiting with their children (some of them almost daily with the annual membership cards) is increasing by the week, also taking advantage of the playground for children under the age of six.
To promote the interaction of children with trusting animals, World of Birds encourages members to bring good quality fresh vegetables to feed the Guinea Pigs as an exception to the general rule of Strictly No Feeding.
It is guaranteed that the Guinea Pigs will squeal with delight and come forward as one wall to wall cluster to gobble up the additional greens, almost pretending that no-one ever feeds them.
With such hands-on intimate encounters at World of Birds, always remember to bring your camera. This is how childhood memories are recorded. And this reminds me of the joke that nobody should go through life moaning that they had so many wonderful memories, but most of them forgotten.
Did You Know?
Another name for a guinea pig is a "cavy." Wild cavies live in social groups called "herds." Male guinea pigs are called boars, females are sows and baby guinea pigs are pups. Guinea pigs are unable to manufacture Vitamin C within their bodies therefore this vitamin must be supplemented.
ALL IN A FLAP
In the Universe even the flutter of a butterfly matters. Everything has a cause and effect, if your child is naughty he gets a ‘klap’ which, of course lands you in court for child abuse. But I digress.
You must excuse me but I have this thing about ‘new’ studies which make me wonder why those ‘researchers’ actually don’t try to get a life.
The latest to put up my hackles is ‘The Flapping Rates of Migrating and Foraging Turkey Vultures in Costa Rica.’ Now there is a project to lead to world peace and eliminate poverty and hunger. But what do I know, not being an ornithologist?
Four researchers, funded as a contribution to conservation science, checked on the local and migrating population of Turkey Vultures to study the flapping rates of individuals and the amount of energy invested in active flight.
Anybody could have told them that ‘migrants tended to fly higher in more stable air than local birds, which often fly low over the forest canopy while searching for carrion. Overall, migrants flapped at lower rates than did local, non-migratory birds. Migrants flapped more on cloudy days than on sunny days, and more at the start and end of the day than at midday.’ (Isn’t that when the air is heavier and lighter?).
And now a very relevant explanation: “Migrants fly higher and straighter than local birds, which flew lower and frequently turned, while searching close above the forest canopy for carrion. These two different flying environments imply a different use of the available atmospheric conditions. Migrants are able to ascend in thermals to great heights and glide between them with little difficulty, whereas foraging birds need to remain closer to and within the boundary layer in order to search for food.”
“A third ‘possibility’ for the differences observed is that the migrants belong to the meridionalis race, while the local birds belong to the aura and ruficollis races. They differ in wing shape and wing loading; these anatomical differences are responsible for differences in flapping behaviour.
Finally, they found it interesting to note that the flapping rate of migrating Turkey Vultures was strongly affected by the time of day, which suggests that migrating Turkey Vultures are affected by the presence and strength of thermals.
Now there is useless information obtained at great expense. The Turkey Vulture couldn’t care less, although each flap, apparently, may matter to the Universe.
The Lighter Side…
As migration approached, two elderly turkey vultures doubted they could make the long trip, so they decided to go by airplane.
When they checked their baggage, the attendant noticed that they were carrying two dead rabbits. "Do you wish to check the rabbits through as luggage?" she asked.
"No, thanks," replied the vultures. "They're carrion."
THE AGONY COLUMN
Phone call on Sunday morning at eight-thirty: “What must we do? Two goslings are separated from their family in the neighbour’s garden, but the neighbours are still asleep!”
A desperate one: “A bird flew into our house, and now we are worried about bird-flu!” This is one of many calls with people frightened out of their wits, especially when they see a sick or injured bird.
Oh for the fear factor! We are all gonna die. If not now, then guaranteed some time in the future. Probably not from bird flu.
WE COULD BE RICH
Please steal one of our penguins. It would reduce our bank overdraft by 25%. “How?” you ask. For starters we would have to live on the Isle of Wight (is that in England?) and have rich sympathizers who go a bit overboard, it seems.
An African penguins chick was stolen from a zoo park in December, and an immediate reward fund was started which reached £25 000 (about R200 000).
That’s a hell of a lot of money for a little penguin, and we wonder in which part of the world we would have to live to get the monthly recognition and support for up to 200 birds and animals admitted to World of Birds. R200 000 would be a dream and would probably cover our sanctuary service for a good part of the year.
Within no time the zoo park’s adult penguin pair laid another egg to replace the loss. IF WE were THEM, (the Zoo park management) in consideration of our considerably different (survival) circumstances, we would be delighted to have the next chick stolen as well. Our overdraft would be down to half.
What did the Isle of Wight zoo park do instead? They have gone to great length to prevent another theft, with movement sensors fitted around the penguin enclosure and a CCTV system installed. They should have their heads read.
But that’s an assessment from our side of the world!
HYPOCRITICAL ARROGANCE SHARED
We are subscribers to the very informative international Avicultural Magazine, which also regularly publishes our own World of Birds achievements. In a lengthy autobiographical profile by the very respected British aviculturist Bernard Sayers, he reports the cooperation of World of Birds in the exchange of owls for his very extensive breeding project.
But this is by the way. My sympathy is with him when he recalls his attempt at establishing a captive breeding project for diurnal birds of prey, hawks, eagles and vultures. He supported the Department of the Environment’s licensing requirements, but the problem was that the DEO depended heavily on advice from a prominent falconry organisation that considered the breeding of raptors in captivity as virtually impossible, especially when attempted by non-falconers.
This was inexcusable, even at that time many years ago, because many species had already been bred successfully. Bernard attended and sat through meetings at which he ‘had to listen to the most incredible rubbish’, dished out by the organisations advising the DEO. To make it worse the arguments were delivered in the most pompous and arrogant manner, even claiming that peregrine falcons could only be bred if they could perform their courtship flight in an enclosure measuring 2.5km sq. x 300m high!
Then how come the American Peregrine Fund bred them for release and re-introduction in aviaries a few metres square?
Anyway, it reminds me of the meeting World of Birds had with the Parow City Council when we proposed a magnificent old quarry to be developed into an education centre for the public.
The ‘experts’ with their own skewed agendas, one from the university (in his private capacity) and the one flown in from Gauteng (now the director for Birdlife South Africa), claimed that any activity near the African peregrine nesting on cliffs would lead to the extinction (uitsterwe) of these birds, hypocritically in contrast to them interfering by abseiling, measuring and ringing the chicks, and by generally having their own personal agendas.
The UCT guy, when questioned afterwards why he was colluding with blatant misinformation and lies, replied that ‘he didn’t like the World of Birds’. When it comes to Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), BEWARE OF FALSE WITNESSES! The animal and wildlife business is as skewed as any other business. We should know by now.
DON’T BITE OUR MONKEYS!
If you have rabies, please don’t visit the World of Birds and bite our monkeys. This would be the only reason they could become infected, and then pass it on to our other visitors.
This should settle the concern of a mother who e-mailed this letter:
“Hello, My family and I visited, and myself and my six year old were bitten/nipped by the little monkeys in the enclosure. We have not had any vaccinations against rabies and now subsequently wonder whether there could be any risk whatsoever of Rabies on the monkeys and whether we should seek medical advice. Your early response would be much appreciated to put our minds at rest.”
Cape Town is a rabies free area; if any of our animals were to be infected with rabies and bite and infect another, there would be havoc and we certainly would know about it.
As for being bitten/nipped by the Squirrel Monkeys, this usually only happens when instructions have not been strictly followed. Even then, any nip or scratch has never ever led to an infection or even a swelling or anything that needed more than ointment or a plaster, and even then only to appease a mother or child.
A scratch or injury from a cat or dog, owl or raptor would be another matter, as an infection could set in from any animal that eats meat, carrion, or scavenges.
We welcome the following new members for March 2006:
Andre Swart Anton Jordaan Lee Mc Queen
Charlene Marshall Roy Emmerich Gunter Jurkewitz
Lourens Coetzer David van der Merwe Gabrielle Fluxman
Chetana S Hougaard Steve & Lisa Hughes Mary-Ann Davies
Mr Paul Ingpen Romy Anderson Mrs A Labuschagne
Ms Patricia Ressell Zubeida Khan Gasina Khan
Nicky Slijpen Diane Mpengesi Corne & Marianna Brown
Wendy Hartog The Gantenbein Family Davis & Brorson
John Slijpen Ms Anne Sumner Mr Greg D Wolmarans
Per Steinkopf The Van Rooyen Family Janet Frost
Lisa van der Linde
and April 2006:
Lindy Tyfield Jackie Donnelly Suegne Thomson
Claire Ashworth Carey Tredoux Erica Du Plessis
Gabi Nahum Mr & Mrs Tagar Jo-Anne Lennert
Sarah Mackie Sharon Butt Nicolaas Stempels
Karen Berry Hendrika Long Mrs BB Smit-Wright
R van der Linde Andy Miszewski Fatima Sadien
The Lawrie Family Debi Bothacrane The Wrinch-Schulz Family
Tanya Truscott The Lenz Family The Simpson Family
Jodee Jones Marina Galletis The Viljoen Family
Samantha Ziegenhardt Julie M Sanders John Parkington
David Vink Mrs MC Langenhoven Willem & Rinda Rossouw
Susan Landsberg Mrs Hilda Daly Roger & Mereli Ward
Arnold Wehmhoerner Eric & Heather Pattrick
World of Birds extends its sincere thanks to the following members for donations received during March 2006:
Mrs Pam Marten Mrs ML Thompson Elsabe Braxton
Cdr. D Gordon-Davis Mr Cedric J Vos Mr Bryan Stevens
A Leslie Bobby Crow Mr John Bewsey
Ms Sally J Louw Cynthia Swain Lady Kaye
Mrs Mia Conzett Mrs Blobs Mitchell Grant & Sheree Brown
Mrs J Lamkin Vredebest Farm Two A Day Group Ltd.
and April 2006:
Mrs ML Thompson Ms Sally J Louw A Leslie
Mrs Pam Marten Cdr. D Gordon-Davis Mrs Joan Brogden
Bobby Crow P Theron Chip & Maxine Wood
Mr Bryan Stevens Nigel Liddell Guy & Diana Woodhouse
Mrs B Jossel Augustine Medical SA Mrs DB van den Berg
Vredebest Farm Two A Day Group Ltd. Chris & Brigitta Blangey
World of Birds’ continued growth and development is due in large part to the generosity of such wonderful people and organisations, and we are very grateful for all their assistance.
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