Mongoose stowaways hitch ride in east resident’s car
“When I got home and out of my car, opened the door and saw three mongooses in my yard.”
A Silver Lakes resident got a big surprise when he discovered that a stowaway family of about 32 mongooses hitched a ride in his BMW’s bonnet from a lodge he had been visiting. “I left Mabula Game Lodge at 06:00 on Saturday morning,” said Six Fountains Residential Estate resident André Roux.
“When I got home and out of my car, opened the door and saw three mongooses in my yard.
When I went back to my car where I had forgotten my cellphone, I saw more about 30 of them running around.” “Eventually all of them regrouped and made themselves comfortable in my yard.
“It was quite a mission to lure them into the backyard to keep them all together,” he said. Roux’s neighbours came to assist and they lured them with some tuna and honey. “It was an unexpected visit as I did not prepare to host as many guests.
“We renamed the car to the Banded mongoose wagon,” joked Roux. Roux phoned the Owl Rescue Centre in Hartbeespoort to come and help catch the animals and return them to Mabula. “A huge shoutout to those who came to assist with the relocating of the animals.”
Brendan Murray and his wife Danelle of the centre, travelled to the east to help catch the mongoose family. “They are inquisitive little creatures,” Brendan said. “It is not uncommon for them to climb into a vehicle’s bonnet just before winter time as the engine of the car is nice and warm. Brendan added that they easily squeeze into a vehicle’s bonnet.
“They were probably too scared to jump out of the vehicle.” They managed to catch most of them and took them back to Mabula later on Saturday afternoon. “However, one of them managed to escape and we searched for the last one for about three hours, but we could not find the creature,” Brendan said.
Did you know?
– Mongooses are very family-orientated creatures.
– They prey on insects such as scorpions as well as snakes.
– They are mostly seen in the northern side of South Africa.
– Females can give birth up to six babies at a time.
– Mongooses travel in groups of about 60.
– They do not stay in the same spot for hygienic reasons and move around.
– Mongooses can live between 10 and 12 years.
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