Press Release
ARA POSITION ON CAPTURE AND RELOCATION OF VAGRANT HIPPO IN KWAZULU-NATAL SUBSEQUENT TO ALLEGED
13 July 2008For the past three months a young male hippo has been traveling south from Zululand along the coast, at one stage spending at least a night and a day in the surf and on the beach at Thomson’s Bay at the popular north coast sea-side village of Ballito.
Whilst it was at Thomson’s Bay, ARA was alerted to the possibility of the hippo being shot by conservation authorities if it was felt by them that the animal’s presence posed a threat to public safety. Based on the fact that until now the hippo had shown no aggression towards the humans it encountered at close quarters, ARA members, Steve Smit and Carol Booth, appealed to the conservation authorities not to shoot the hippo, but rather to monitor it and hope for an opportunity to capture it and relocate it to a safe and secure site back in Zululand. The authorities, namely, Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW) gave the assurance that they did not wish to shoot the animal and would be very happy if it started to journey back to Zululand or was captured and relocated.
Initial optimism when the animal did start moving north again was dashed a few weeks later when the animal disappeared and was subsequently sighted three weeks ago in the Umdloti River near the small town of Verulem. Since then the hippo has remained within a fairly limited area, lying up in the river during the day and coming ashore at night to feed on the river banks and even moving close to local residences. No concern about its presence, and no incidents of aggression had been reported at that stage.
In spite of the apparent benign presence of the hippo, it was decided by the Ethekwini Metro on advice of EKZNW that the animal should be shot as a pre-emptive measure against it causing injury or death to a member of the public. “On both Tuesday, July 8 and Thursday, July 10 ARA was alerted to the presence of Durban Metro officials trying to shoot the hippo. Angry local residents appealed to us to intervene on behalf of the hippo”, said ARA spokesperson, Steve Smit. “We tried to reason with the senior Metro official on site who had been appointed to shoot the animal, but he would not talk to us, saying he had a job to do,” Smit said. “On both days all attempts to shoot the hippo failed. The following day, Friday 11th July, we briefed our legal team and papers were drafted in anticipation of seeking a high court order to prevent the hippo being shot whilst we explored the possibility of passive capture.” ARA then consulted the internationally renowned game capture experts, Catchco, who had previously worked successfully for the organisation on the challenging Thukela elephant case and they agreed to fly down from Limpopo this week to advise on the feasibility or otherwise of a successful capture. “Fortunately we did not have to go the interdict route as we were able to meet with representatives of both EKZNW and Durban Metro the same day and an agreement was reached whereby we would have until July 28 to show that the hippo could be caught.” Failing this the fate of the hippo would be in the hands of EKZNW and Durban Metro as it was a condition of this agreement that if the hippo’s behaviour changed and it acted in any way that threatened, or appeared to threaten, the safety of the public, the authorities would deal with it at their discretion. Also, as per an undertaking in the agreement, ARA immediately started an education campaign in the area, telling people how to respond to the presence of the hippo and emphasizing that teasing or interfering with the animal was very dangerous. ARA will continue this education campaign by means of information leaflets, talks to local schools and direct interaction with local residents.
Regretfully, sometime during the night of July 12/13, there was an incident during which the hippo allegedly killed an elderly male resident of the area. The factual circumstances of this tragic incident are not yet known. “Whilst ARA sincerely sympathises with the bereaved family and recognizes the right of the pubic to be able to move freely and safely in and around their area of residence and work, we also need to be sure that this person’s death was due to an attack by the hippo. It is also important to know if the incident was caused by the hippo being provoked, because we have heard a number of conflicting stories, one being that the deceased was amongst a group who attacked the hippo with bush knives. All this facts needs to be known before any decision is taken by the authorities on how to deal with the hippo. We await the coroner’s report.” “We must say that whilst we would dearly love to capture and relocate this hippo, we also attach great importance to the rights and safety of the people living close to where the hippo is currently living and foraging”, said Smit. “We don’t want anyone else hurt, so if the continued presence of the animal where it is now is adjudged to constitute a threat to local residents and visitors to the area, and it cannot be captured and relocated immediately, then we would support humane euthanasia of the animal by the most appropriate means, sad as this would be.”
Ends
ARA Spokepersons:
Steve Smit – 082 659 4711
Carol Booth – 082 411 5444
Michele Pickover – 082 253 2124
ARA email - info@animalrightsafrica.org
Steve Smit - steve@animalrightsafrica.org
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