Craigavon dassies to be relocated to a new home after years living in Craigavon

A residential property development company, Craft Homes has appointed a wildlife specialist to plan and coordinate the relocation process of dassies from Craigavon to a privately-owned wildlife sanctuary.

This was after Craigavon resident Peggy Bradley and wildlife specialist Dirk Engelbrecht of Wildserve raised concerns about the pace at which the property development company was moving to relocate the colony.

Bradley said, “For more than 20 years that we have lived in Craigavon, a large rock outcrop on a semi-natural smallholding has been home to a dassie colony of approximately 60 individuals. With increasing development pressures, the smallholding provided the only safe source of food and shelter for this colony.

“Unfortunately, when the property was sold to the developer, there was no direct involvement with adjacent landowners. Had this been the case, the dassie colony would have been flagged as an issue as we already had concerns regarding the colony’s size. With the increased disturbance that came with site clearance operations, food supply became limited and the dassies’ movements were severely restricted. We, therefore, decided to supplement feed during the lockdown period until alternatives could be sought.”

Engelbrecht said a clear and solid method for capture was approved in July last year and presented to the developer. “We are running out of time as construction continues with the colony livelihood being threatened. We hope that the developer will realise the urgency and importance of taking a positive step, sooner than later, to start with the process of relocating these dassies. We are ready to help and we have been ready since July last year,” Engelbrecht added.

Randburg SPCA head of inspectorate, Shiven Bodasing claimed the developer had failed to plan ahead to ensure that the animals were humanely moved before construction was started.

“The animals are undoubtedly distressed, the developer, Craft Homes, has already been cautioned by myself earlier this year as to the manner in which building is to take place and the priority that ought to be given to the humane relocation of the animals,” Bodasing added.

In his response to the concerns raised by local residents and Bodasing, development manager at Craft Homes, Jan Jansen van Vuuren said the company would start the relocation process on 15 February this year. “We have appointed a specialist [Wildserve] to plan and coordinate the moving of the dassies. We have started implementing the plan and will be assisted by various professionals and wildlife organisations to ensure the welfare of the animals.”

Jansen van Vuuren added that there was a colony of about 40 dassies that needed to be humanely captured and relocated to a site outside the territory of the colony. However, this would be within the species range and province. “The nature of the relocation is primarily to remove the colony from a transformed and high-risk environment for welfare reasons with a primary focus on benefitting the destination ecosystem.”

Jansen van Vuuren concluded that the relocation would take up to six weeks. “The release site has been identified and is a privately-owned wildlife sanctuary within the Nokeng Tsa Taemane Local Municipality. Permission has been granted by the landowner.

“The rocky ridge habitat is accessible by vehicle via dirt roads with any road-going vehicle.”