Gdard warns public about wildlife management problems
In one incident an elephant escaped from a game reserve and wandered onto the N1 highway.
The Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Gdard) has warned the public that from time to time wild animals become a problem in Gauteng Province, causing damage to property, road accidents and even loss of human life, and appeals to the public to call its wildlife management officers for assistance whenever they see wild animals causing problems in their community.
In a press statement issued this week, Gdard said that upon escaping from game parks or nature reserves, the ‘problem wild animals’ tend to enter human-dominated areas where different types of human and animal conflicts arise.
Over the past three years, numerous large and sometimes dangerous animals have escaped from game farms or nature reserves and had to be dealt with.
The recent cases of animals having escaped from the places where they are kept include an elephant from the Dinokeng Game Reserve in December 2016, which wandered onto the N1 highway at night and was involved in a collision with an ambulance. The elephant went back into the reserve it had escaped from, but the driver of the ambulance later passed away. Other escapes include a lion from Dinokeng Game Reserve, hippos from various Gauteng game farms, and wildebeest, buffalo and leopard from unknown sources.
Gdard is also warning the public that it is illegal to keep smaller animals such as jackals, baboons, vervet monkeys, snakes, owls and other birds without a permit. Permits are required to catch, convey or keep any of these animals.
There are two permit offices in Gauteng where the public can apply for permits or licences, namely at Head Office in Johannesburg (Southern Gauteng) or at Vredehuis in Tshwane (Northern Gauteng).
The address for Head Office is 56 Eloff Street, Umnotho House, Johannesburg. Contact details: 011 240 3042 or send an email to Heidy Potgieter at heidy.potgieter@gauteng.gov.za for application forms.
• About the writer: Emmanuel Koro is a Johannesburg-based and World Bank International Award-winning environmental journalist.
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