Caring EMPD officer helps save dassie from his car’s engine
The dassie was safely removed and is now in the care of Wildlife in Crisis
A metro police officer trying so save a dassie on Pretoria Road never expected it to hide in his metro police vehicle’s engine.
It eventually took Wildlife in Crisis to come out to rescue the furry animal from its second “new found home” – another car engine!
Supt Pieter du Plessis was travelling along Pretoria Road near Builders Warehouse on November 29 when he spotted the dassie (rock hyrax) in the middle of the road.
“I immediately stopped and started directing traffic away from the animal so it would not be harmed. Some of my colleagues came to help me direct the traffic as well as trying to capture the scared little thing,” said Du Plessis.
“I tried to chase it away from the road and onto the side walk to the grass, but instead it decided to run underneath my car.”
As the officers tried to get the dassie out from underneath Du Plessis’ car, they witnessed how it climbed into the engine.
“When I opened the bonnet, the dassie moved to the back of the engine and I couldn’t see it. I decided to drive to our offices on Long Street so I could leave the car there and maybe it would climb out on its own.”
The dassie was left in the car engine, unharmed, overnight and when Du Plessis returned to work the following day, it was still in the engine. He contacted Wildlife in Crisis and Natalie Stockenström was first on the scene.
After many attempts to gently pull it out, coaxing it with food and even splashing it with water, the dassie still wouldn’t budge after more than two hours of struggling.
Stockenström phoned Wildlife in Crisis volunteer Phillip Vivier, to also try and remove the dassie from the car engine. It seemed Vivier had the magic touch.
“I parked next to the metro police car and as we were trying to get it out, it jumped into my Kia Picanto’s engine,” said Vivier.
Luckily the dassie was now located in a more comfortable position for Vivier to just reach in and pick it up.
The dassie was safely removed and is now in the care of Wildlife in Crisis.
“We will set the dassie free in a secure location with others of his kind,” said Judy Davidson from Wildlife in Crisis.
