A Bay wildlife rescue team dug deep this week and saved the life of a creature most folk have never seen.
Though the rescue was a success, the incident highlighted the perils human development posed to wildlife, with the theft of infrastructure having played a role in this particular case.
Wildline founder Arnold Slabbert said the drama started on Tuesday when Openserve employees were checking faults on a fibre line along the N2 near the Van Stadens River Bridge.
“The lid of a manhole had been stolen and when they looked in they made out an eye and an ear of what they thought was a buck,” he said.
Slabbert said Lakeside resident Paul Ruschenbaum, who had learnt of the find, then phoned and asked for his assistance.
“Of course I said yes and by that time I had also seen a photo which showed it was not a buck but in fact an aardvark.
“Thereafter, Paul liaised between myself and the two men on site as I set the rescue up.”
Slabbert said his heart had gone out to the animal when he got to the scene and lowered himself into the 1.5m-deep shaft.
“The diameter was just over 1m.
“It was really hot and tight and the poor aardvark was trapped at the bottom, caked with mud and barely able to move.”
He said he had tried to get his arm under the animal’s body but this proved impossible.
“Each time I tried to get my arm under her, she flattened her body and dug her front leg claws under the cabling, which was covered by a layer of mud about 50mm deep.
“She just braced and kicked like crazy with her back legs, obviously terrified and trying to protect herself.
“So it was impossible.”
The rescue team now included Farmcom’s Deno Lombaard and farmer Grant Puttergill, who offered to go and fetch a length of broad strapping which he used to lift livestock.
“We had to be careful not to break the animal’s ribs or injure its back but it seemed like the strapping would be perfect.”
He said while they were waiting for the farmer to return, he removed some rocks and a bucket that had also fallen into the shaft.
“After that I managed to get a safety harness from the Openserve guys under the aardvark, so we could lift her slightly.
“When Grant returned with the broad strapping, I was able to slip that around her, and the team at the top then hoisted her out.”
He said they loaded the aardvark into a crate and then into the Wildline bakkie and he and assistant Jaci Neale-Shute drove it to Mount Croix Animal Clinic vet Dr Matthijs Ravensberg for a check-up.
“Aardvarks may spend time in underground burrows but they avoid marshy areas so the first thing we did was put her in an iron tub and wash off all the mud which had set like a suit of armour around her.
“She turned out to be in fair condition, with no broken bones, just very stiff from being trapped in the shaft.
“We estimate she was there for at least a week.”
He said they released the animal in the Van Stadens area.
“I’ll never forget seeing her ears twitching above the long grass as she trotted away.”
Nocturnal and seldom seen by people, the aardvark is threatened by development and a decline in the quality of its habitat.
More frequent droughts triggered by climate change have also reduced its primary food source of ants and termites.
The species is also threatened by illegal hunting with dogs, and persecuted by some stock farmers who kill it because its burrows sometimes allow predators like jackal and caracal to get under fences.
Slabbert said reasons for protecting the aardvark included its role as an ecosystem engineer.
Its burrows provide crucial shelter for many other species, making the aardvark’s decline a concern for wider biodiversity.
He said the aardvark’s role in controlling termite numbers was also key as the insect would otherwise wreak havoc, not least with agriculture and wooden structures.
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