Chainsaw massacre traumatises goose family

WHEN people cut down trees there is little thought given to the consequences. It is not only the tree that collapses under the force of the chainsaw blade.

There are dozens of small creatures which are displaced or killed by this worrying trend in Pinetown and surrounds of cutting down our green heritage.

In Escom Road contractors were busy all last week cutting down the rows of Umdoni trees which offered shade to the cars parked in the Frame Group’s parking lot.

To Let and For Sale signs were visible on this piece of ground for some time and in the last few days a security company’s fleet of bakkies has been parked on this land.

Perhaps they didn’t want bird droppings on their vehicles, or the leaves were messy, or perhaps they are going to build there, but whatever the reason, the sickening, high-pitched whine of the chainsaws went on day after long day.

By Wednesday the bareness was visible from our offices, a blank space where trees had grown days before.

On Wednesday evening two staff members of Highway Printers, works manager Marvin Gillingwater and maintenance man Eric Laubscher, came across a pitiful sight – a distressed pair of Egyptian geese and their brood of seven fluffy chicks were running in confusion around our parking area after they had been startled from their nest by falling trees and chainsaws and workmen and trucks and noise.

The goslings had to be rescued or become dinner for the many feral cats which inhabit the factories in this industrial area.

It was dusk and attempts at capturing the distressed family were proving futile, when in their panic they rushed into an empty garage and became trapped in a corner.

As the babies were being put into a box for transportation to a Northdene bird sanctuary run by Ashley Maritz, the parents fled and have not been seen since.

But there was another problem. There were only five chicks. Two were missing.

The following evening Marvin and Eric walked along the stream which runs beside the Highway Mail property, looking for the pair of lost babies.

They were about to give up when they heard a faint cheeping from the undergrowth. An inspection revealed a small manhole above a storm water pipe, and there, at the bottom and out of reach, were the two goslings, cold, hungry and thirsty.

Another night trapped in the drain would have been fatal.

As a last resort Marvin fashioned a noose out of a bit of rope, and slowly and gently manoeuvred the loop over the gosling’s neck, not too tightly, and one by one slowly hoisted the babes to safety. They were hungry, but besides that in good health.

These two were taken to a farm in Peacevale where other geese congregate, so for now all the babies are safe.

Humans may be top of the food chain but that does not mean that we can treat creation without empathy. A little forethought and sensitivity could have prevented this scenario.