Tatenda, Carla and Lisa Marie's milk supplies were
replenished last week thanks to a donation of another
150kg of skimmed milk powder from the Clover Milk
Company in South Africa and 100kg from
www.safaritalk.net member, Bugs van Heerden of South
Africa. Linda Honegger very kindly came to our rescue
once again with the Clover donation by arranging
transport and paying for the documentation for the milk
to be imported into Zimbabwe. The ZCTF paid the import
duty of 726 million Zimbabwe dollars. In addition to his
donation of milk powder, Bugs also paid for the
transportation of the milk to Zimbabwe as well as the
import duty. We are very grateful to the Clover Milk
Company, Bugs van Heerden and Linda Honegger for going
to so much expense and trouble to help feed Zimbabwe's
orphaned rhinos. Thanks also to Silvana Olivo of Italy
who donated a box full of teats and Lorraine Graham of
Australia who donated bottles and teats. We would like
to also express our appreciation to Barbara Bowman,
Brian Gaisford and Helen & John Buckle for their
donations of money. There are a lot of hidden expenses
involved in delivering the milk such as fuel, duty,
clearing costs etc. and it is thanks to these donors
that we are able to do it. We were also able to buy 10
bottles of horse fly repellant which cost ZWD400
million.
TATENDA
Bugs van Heerden's donation of milk arrived in Harare on
Saturday the 8th March and we went to Imire to deliver
it the following day. When we arrived at the Travers'
house, there was no sign of Tatenda as he was out in the
bush browsing.
We
went out onto the front verandah where we met the newest
edition to the Travers family - a tiny little week old
hyena. Nobody is sure why but male hyenas sometimes eat
their babies. One of the Imire hyenas gave birth to 2
babies and the father ate one of them so the Travers
decided to rescue the surviving one before the father
went back for seconds. My grand daughter, Kylie was
delighted to meet the baby. The Imire African game
guide, Morris, asked John Travers what the little
hyena's name was and John replied "Well, we haven't
thought of a name yet but we can call him Morris if you
like." Morris didn't seem to know whether to take this
as a compliment or not but I have a feeling the name
might stick.
We
hadn't been there very long when Tatenda graced us with
his presence. He suddenly appeared in the doorway
leading from the lounge to the front verandah after
having first walked through Judy's house to get there.
We were amazed at how much he has grown since he's been
drinking the Clover milk.
Tatenda's best friend since birth, the little warthog
Hogwash, is no longer such a "little" warthog. I never
thought I would ever think of a warthog as a
particularly attractive animal, but Hogwash is a
magnificent specimen. He was lying on the couch on the
verandah when we arrived and he still sleeps in Judy's
bedroom at night but his nose is a little bit out of
joint now that "Morris" has arrived on the scene.
Judy
had a very frightening experience with Tatenda recently.
He was in the kitchen with her while she was preparing
the dinner. She was peeling a pumpkin and unbeknown to
her, Tatenda had eaten some of the pumpkin peels. He
suddenly started coughing and at first, Judy thought
nothing of it but she became concerned when the coughing
grew more violent. Then without warning, he started
charging around the kitchen and Judy realized he was
choking. She finally suceeded in shoving her hand down
his throat to dislodge the pumpkin peel. This was no
mean feat because Tatenda is not small any more - he
probably weighs in excess of 250 pounds and it is one
thing to shove your hand down a black rhino's throat,
but quite another to do it whilst he is charging you. I
say "Judy for President".
Pumpkin peels notwithstanding, Tatenda has very
expensive taste in food. Much to Judy's chagrin, he has
acquired a taste for her lovely palm trees.
CARLA AND LISA MARIE
The Clover Milk arrived in Bulawayo on Thursday 6th
March. Carla and Lisa Marie's supplies were running very
low so I drove to Bulawayo to collect it the same day
and then went straight through to Buffalo Range to
deliver 125kg to Janey Style who is doing such a great
job with the 2 rhino. Since the last time I was there,
Janey has increased the size of the enclosure holding
the rhino so when I arrived, Carla and Lisa Marie were
nowhere to be seen as they now have a much bigger area
of natural bush to wander around in. It is not easy to
find them because they are very good at hiding in the
thick bush. I had no intention of driving such a long
way without seeing them so I walked through the bush
calling them.
I
walked for a few hundred metres before I heard a
rustling sound and they came out to greet me. I was
lucky enough this time to be able to watch them being
fed.
As
usual, they were very interested in their milk donation.
We donated 10 bottles of horse fly repellant to them
because the horse flies deliver a painful bite and draw
spots of blood all over their bodies. Lisa Marie is
still not able to put all her weight on her leg that she
almost lost due to a wire snare. It was a terrible wound
and will take a long time to heal properly.
Carla and Lisa Marie seem to be soul mates and do
everything together. I don't believe they would survive
if they were split up. Even though they are wild
animals, they seem to know that they owe their lives to
Janey Style.
Thank you so much to all the wonderful people who are
helping us to feed these magnificent endangered animals.
We would never be able to do it without you.
Johnny Rodrigues
Chairman for Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
Tel: 263 4 336710
Fax/Tel: 263 4 339065
Mobile: 263 11 603 213
Email:
galorand@mweb.co.zw
Website:
www.zimbabwe-art.com
Website:
www.zctf.mweb.co.zw
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