Shooting of hadedas ‘common problem’
“How did our community become so insensitive, that someone would want to shoot a defenseless hadeda?”
A Moot resident recently shared the trauma of seeing two hadedas in two months, killed by BB-guns in her yard in Waverley.
Corné du Plessis said in July, her four-year-old son had witnessed the first killing.
“How did our community become so insensitive that someone would want to shoot a defenceless hadeda?” she said adding that the second killing had occurred earlier in August.
“What is worse is that the hadeda which died… the mate keeps calling for it,” she said.
“The mate calling for it, was the actual reason we discovered the second bird.”
“I am heart-broken.”
Du Plessis said what made matters worse was the fact that hadedas only chose one mate for life.
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“I talked with my dad and he said they only choose one mate for life,” she said.
“That really broke my heart – the mate has been calling for a while now.”
Du Plessis said besides the trauma she experienced, she was also concerned about the impact of the killings on the environment.
“The number of hadedas are decreasing in our environment,” she said.
“I cannot allow these insensitive thugs to get away with this. I owe it to myself and my Creator to help catch the culprits.”
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Waltloo SPCA general manager Dewald Wahlstrand said the shooting of hadedas was a common complaint that they received.
“We receive complaints all over the country,” he said adding that his organisation could not always take action.
“We only take action when an animal is suffering.”
“So for example, when a hadeda is shot and has died we cannot do anything about it. But if the hadeda was shot and is still alive, but suffering, we are allowed to take action.”
He said it was important that residents reporting such incidents provided proof.
“Anything like photos and video material are welcome,” he said.
“It will help with our investigation.”
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