Veld fire damage cause of Rietvlei rhinos death in Pretoria

The wooden pylon that collapsed on Friday, electrocuting a female rhino, her calf and a zebra at the Rietvlei nature reserve may have been damaged by a veld fire, Rekord Centurion reports.

The Tshwane metro said the fire happened two weeks before the accident.

“It is suspected that during the fire one of the wooden legs was damaged,” said Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo.

“Unfortunately, no one was aware of the extent of the damage caused. The leg eventually collapsed and caused the pylon to fall over.”

Mashigo said this appeared to be the most logical explanation and ruled out the chance that cable theft might have been involved.

Officials from Tshwane nature conservation discovered the carcasses during their patrols on Saturday morning.

The electricity cables came into contact with the animals when one leg of the two-legged structure failed about 1.5m above the ground.

The metro’s nature conservation officials were working closely with Eskom officials to establish the exact cause of the collapse.

Eskom said it was in contact with reserve management to establish the cause of the collapse.

“The reserve has referred the matter to their veterinary pathologist who is yet to confirm the cause of the incident,” said Eskom Gauteng operating unit senior maintenance and operations manager Motlhabane Ramashi.

“We constantly inspect, monitor and fix defects on all our power lines as soon as they are detected as part of the maintenance strategy.

“The death of these endangered species is regrettable as our asset designs and operations are integrated with preserving the environment and its sustainability.”

The power utility appealed to residents to report hanging conductors immediately to 08600-37566.

“For safety reasons, members of the public are further cautioned to refrain from touching Eskom infrastructure, low hanging or cables on the ground.”