Rock monitor now has special needs

Anneke van Schoor, a member of Mpumalanga Reptile Recovery (MRR), was first on the scene to rescue the poor animal on Thursday afternoon.

Witnesses phoned Divergent Ops, who asked her to attend the scene. It was noticed on the middleman in front of Volvo in Riverside.

Upon her arrival a group of men tried to stop the animal and when she arrived it ran into the road and was hit by a car on its left hind leg. It suffered a nasty fracture and the leg had to be amputated.

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“His head was stuck in a Lucky Star pilchards can,” Van Schoor said.

“It must have been there for a while, maybe two weeks, maybe longer as it had made indentations. He couldn’t eat or drink or see.”

Clayton South passed by the scene and stopped. He described his experience on Facebook.

“I walked up to the likkewaan as he was walking down the road, obviously blinded and not knowing where he was going. Worried he would get ridden over, I attempted to try and pull the can off its head.

“He must have gotten a huge fright as he whipped around so quickly, narrowly missing me with his tail. He then ran towards the centre island and hit his head on the step. He stopped for a breather, as I can only imagine his breathing couldn’t have been very good with his head stuck in a can.

“I then decided to rather call for help. I rushed back to my vehicle to get my phone but the traffic then started to move. As I was in the fast lane I couldn’t find a place to pull over so I had to drive further down the road to be able to turn around and head back to where I could safely be off the road.

“In the interim I had called Divergent Ops for assistance. They reacted swiftly.”

While they were waiting for Van Schoor, members from Hi-Tech’s Riverside unit arrived. They tried to slow traffic down, but the rock monitor got a fright and was hit by a car in the slow lane.

“I thought it was all over when suddenly the likkewaan got up and started bolting,” South said. Van Schoor arrived and “I must say we were four men who completely got schooled by this brave woman,” he added.

“She, without hesitation, was able to dive between traffic and manhandle the likkewaan and got it under control. You could see she knows hows to handle the reptile and where to hold it.”

The reptile is 1,57 metres long and is the second large rock monitor Van Schoor has caught. The process is rather different from catching snakes, which she does often.
“You want to grab him behind the head and between by his hind legs and tail. You try and keep his mouth and claws away from you.

They have terribly long claws. Someone else has to help you hold his tail. I tackled him like a Springbok fly half.”

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She managed to get him to Central Vets, where it hit her with his tail. “It feels like a sjambok.”

“Can you imagine how he must have suffered?” she said about the can on its head. Van Schoor added that since it is now a “special needs” rock monitor, she may release it on her own farm, where there is little traffic and not much competition for it.

MRR removes any reptile, free of charge, for the sake of conservation.

For help or to make a contribution to the rock monitor’s vet bill, contact Van Schoor on 079-931-8744.