Zimbabwe Seven

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 01 2009 | By: zimbabwe7

Dear Readers,

Zimbabwe – once a land of hope, passion and prosperity. Today those have been replaced with dismay, chaos and poverty. In less than a decade, Zimbabwe has changed, and most certainly not for the better. How we continue to fight the good fight I truly have no idea. It is only thanks to so many of us who know and love this land we call home, that we are able to continue.

The turmoil and lawlessness still continues unabated here in Zimbabwe. We move from one horror story to another, poaching, snaring and mayhem is the order of the day it seems. However amongst the sadness, there have been some positive developments with the Trust. It is the end of the year and I fear that this newsletter could be filled with sad stories and this is not my intention. So this newsletter will not focus on outside matters concerning wildlife, but is restricted to our animals, who are oblivious of the goings on in the country and remain content in their own worlds, being animals, which is how I believe it should be.

TIKKI HYWOOD TRUST ANIMAL EVENTS: 

BAT-EARED FOXES

Our top story has to be that of the arrival of our precious Bat-eared foxes from South Africa. Born on the 11th October 2008 but rejected by their mother, I received a call from Ed Hern of the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve to say that the precious bundles were available for adoption.

A little bit of background to the Bat-eared foxes; Zimbabwe currently has nine species of wildlife which are Specially Protected by the Zimbabwean Law, one of those nine are the Bat-eared foxes. In 2001, the Tikki Hywood Trust, applied for a permit to breed these amazing creatures in captivity with the aim to release them back into the wild. However, due to the Trust’s policy of not taking healthy animals out of the wild, only taking orphans and or abused animals into our care, it has been a very long wait.

So yet another adventure lay ahead of us. On arriving at the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve, we were met by Ed and all the necessary documentation and permits were sorted and forwarded to the clearing agents at Beitbridge, so that we were not unnecessarily held up at the border with our very precious live cargo! My heart was beating so fast and my excitement at finally being able to meet with the foxes must have been apparent. At last I was allowed to meet our new babies. On entering a room, I could hear this very unusual squeaking coming from a card board box which had an infra-red light over it. As I peered into the boxes there before me were three tiny faces staring back. My first thought was at how tiny and I mean tiny they were. Not quiet 160 grams! Having mainly had experience with felines, I was expecting the canids to be larger! I went the day before I was due to return to Zimbabwe, so that the foxes could get use to me feeding them and to try and lessen the stress of being with someone new. My first feed was a total disaster and John, who had been feeding the foxes up to date, must have thought “what an idiot!!” The foxes were not at all happy with my new smell and the syringe which had been used to feed them was rather interesting to use, without drowning the pups! It was agreed that I would be doing the next few feeds before I was due to leave the following day. I am pleased to report that with each following feed I improved and the foxes were happier to be fed by me. That night the foxes found their way into my bed and by 2 am the next morning we were all set and ready to return home!

It was a long trip, 22 hours. A huge thank you, to Tim Paulet who was fantastic and very patient with my odd ways. The foxes behaved incredibly well on the journey. Every 4 hours I would mix the milk formula for the pups and feed them, allow them a little bit of time to run around the car before putting them back into their travel basket. The Zimbabwe/South Africa border was another story. Clearing on the South African side was a breeze, however when we arrived on the Zimbabwean side, things were not so smooth and actually challenged ones patience. There was evidence that the cholera situation was not improving and through every doorway we had to go through, a horrendous water trough, which I am sure carried worse germs than cholera! After an hour with a clearing agent things were not looking good. How we managed to leave with all the necessary paper work and the foxes not dehydrated due to the heat, two hours later was a miracle. The Zimbabwean border is most certainly not for the meek and mild or those of us who are impatient!!!

To date the foxes have grown and are now over 600 grams, three weeks after arriving in their new home!

This project would only have been made possible thanks to Tim Paulet and Bevis and Anne Smythe, who are now the official Bat-eared fox sponsors.

AFRICAN WILD CAT

With Zimbabwe in the turmoil that it is in, we have had to take a long hard look at all our projects and give them some serious consideration. What has become increasingly apparent is that our release sites are no longer as secure as what we thought or hoped. There are so many unknown elements on the ground now, with the movement of people in and out of conservancies and protected areas that we now have to rationalize any release to the highest priority of the animal in question. We have therefore decided to implant some of our African wild cat females with contraceptives to temporarily halt breeding. This would also help us with the enrichment and stimulation of the animals, so that male and females can be integrated in the same pen without the worry of babies!

So, with all this in mind we decided that Hooch was the ideal candidate for the first implant, since she was already a successful breeder and had in fact developed a deep and loving bond with Starsky. On Tuesday 28th October 2008, Dr. Chris Foggin together with assisting vet Dr. Margie Peacock arrived at the Trust to perform the procedure. We sedated Hooch with an injection and then Drs. Foggin and Peacock went to work putting the implant just under the skin between the shoulder blades. It was also a good opportunity to re-measure Hooch and check her teeth – which we are happy to report are in very good condition. Hooch recovered very smoothly from the whole procedure and was blissfully oblivious to the waxy cylindrical implant slowly settling into her system. By the 12th November we were confident that the implant was working and so we decided to re-unite the feline couple. It was a pretty anti-climatic re-union – Starsky seemed more intent in making sure there were no food items in Hooch’s enclosure, whilst she seemed more intent on making sure that Starsky still knew what a gentle “tap” from her velvet paws felt like! She was playful to start off with and initiated more contact than he did, but we are very happy to report that the pair have settled into a comfortable mutual co-existence and occasionally can be found napping side by side when they think no-one is looking!

Two days after the excitement of Hooch’s implant we had another African Wild Cat event – Versailles managed to get out of his enclosure and decided to visit India & Burma on the 30th October. The escape artist was discovered during feeding time, where he was sitting patiently at the gate to the girls’ enclosure. This presented rather a dilemma as he would not go quietly back to his own enclosure, it was getting dark so drugging him was not an option (as it would have to be oral and would take too long to achieve). Our only recourse at that point in time was to put him in the same enclosure as the girls. India was summarily removed as there was a potential that she would have fought with him. After several hours of waiting and gingerly checking at the gate – Versailles was eventually encouraged with a chicken to go into the enclosure with Burma. Ultimately, he seemed quite pleased with himself to have achieved this purpose and celebrated by chasing Burma exuberantly around the enclosure!
Once we were certain that he was settled and not going anywhere further, we had to decide on a plan to remove Burma, otherwise there would definitely have been little pitter patter of kittens’ feet. To achieve this, we had to drug Burma to catch her. She was issued with a little blue sleeping tablet (we use dormicum) in a chicken and once the drug started taking effect, she was wobbly enough for Lisa to encourage her into a basket to be moved.
And so the tale of Versailles’s self-initiated enclosure rotation ends on a happy note.

SERVAL

We have delighted in watching our little serval family grow. We have said it before, and say it again here that Arwen has been an amazing mother, very tolerant and totally accepting of our presence in hers & her babies’ lives. Evenstar has grown into a beautiful, confident male serval with a very happy go lucky disposition. His little sister, Quickbeam, is shy and more reserved, having taken on some of her aunt Shenzi’s traits (Mufasa’s sister). In late August we started rotating mother and kittens to the neighbouring enclosure to give them some different stimulation. This all went very smoothly, with everyone enjoying the new sights and smells and the kittens very quickly discovering favourite sleeping spots in the thick ivy.

Throughout August and the following month, we continued to rotate the serval. Whilst mother & babies were in the main enclosure, Mufasa would go to the dense jungle that we commonly refer to as our nursery. As to be expected – Arwen started to come into a regular oestrus cycle not long after the birth of the kittens and of course Mufasa could pick this up and was confused as to why he could no longer be with her. This caused some frustration with him and he would pace at the inter-leading gate. When we are faced with behaviour like this, we try to understand it and find a way of trying to stop it, not only for our own purposes but also for captive animals the world over. A method that we have found to be effective in these situations is to give the animal a mild sedative so that the whole situation is calmed down. Also bear in mind that these creatures are mostly nocturnal as well, so moving around in inappropriate daylight hours will make them even more agitated. In this case with Mufasa, we decided to use Valium (also known as diazepam), a well known human sedative and anxiety drug. What we have subsequently discovered, that valium has a not so nice side effect – it causes aggression in the feline species. So we have subsequently stopped using it and replaced it with a drug called rivotril which reacts quickly in the cat as well as proving to have no side effects.

The beginning of December saw the biggest move since the Trust has been involved with serval. The release of a complete family of serval. Mufasa, Arwen, Evenstar and Quickbeam have all been moved to Chishakwe into the Phase two of the release program. Chishakwe Ranch, in the SAVE Valley Conservancy is the newest release site, and we are delighted to have the support of Derric Wilson, L.J. Campbell as well as Nick and Sarah Greef and Rosemary Groom. Our human family is growing!

Releasing any animal into a new environment is certainly a very emotional step. When these helpless animals enter one’s life, you are never fully prepared to see them leaving your safe and secure environment and heading off into a new one, even though it is for the best and the next stage in their step into freedom. I never quiet understood my parents’ faces when saying goodbye to us at the airport as we embarked on a new and exciting journey into the big wide world. However, with moving the serval, I realised just how hard it must be for each parent saying goodbye to their special babies who have now grown up and are now trying to find their wings. It is all too daunting and there is so much that can go wrong yet at the same time so much that is wonderful, new and exciting.

The capture and collaring of wild animals is always a stressful affair. Hence here at the Trust we try to work on what we call a passive capture. With the use of Dormicum which is a human drug used primarily in people to help them sleep, the cats are subjected to less stress and it also has an amnesic effect, which means they have no memory of what happens whilst under the influence of the drug. So at 5.30 am on the 1st December 2008 all the serval were dosed with dormicum orally. They were then left for at least 40 minutes so that the drug could start taking affect. Arwen was affected the most and in less than 20 minutes it was very obvious that she was under the influence. The key with using this drug is not to rush it, and allow the properties of the drug to take full affect before working with the animals. Arwen was the first cat to go down and be sedated enough to place the collar onto and then get her into a box. The second was Evenstar whose hunger over took him and he chased after a piece of meat which was thrown into the crate. Quickbeam took a lot more persuasion but nonetheless finally moved into the crate prepared for her. The hardest serval to work with was Mufasa. Even though he had double the dose that was given to Arwen, the affects of the drug did not seem to be quiet as strong in his system as it had been for her. I did not want to drug him further as this would be more stressful as well as allowing a potential for more complications. So very gently and slowly I managed to place the collar onto Mufasa’s neck as well as secure it, amazing that these animals can develop so much trust with their human counter parts. This side of wild animals never ceases to amaze me; their unconditional love in those of us that work with them on a daily basis and perhaps this is one of the reasons as to why I have found it so difficult to let them go. After 20 minutes, Mufasa was collared and in his crate ready for the trip to Chishakwe.

Not only was this also the first time that we were releasing an entire family, but Ellen was in charge of the transportation as well as placing the serval into what will be their new environment at Chishakwe without me and making sure they were settled in this environment. She was calm, thorough and did a sterling job. On arrival, the cats were offloaded into a cool dark place and the enclosure was inspected. Like with anything new, there are always the odd hiccups and teething problems. The biggest worry at was the fence was not having enough voltage to stop interested predators such as leopards and baboons as well as the larger animals who might just be curious about this new environment such as elephants and rhinos. Thankfully due to all hands on deck and everyone working to the same end result, the fence was sorted and all worries were laid to rest. We have just received an email from Sarah saying that Mufasa has caught his first hornbill – this is the first step to the cats ultimate release and puts my mind at ease that the serval have started to adjust to their new environment.

HEDGEHOGS

Hedgehogs, hedgehogs and more hedgehogs! This has been the best breeding season ever with regards to the hedgehogs. Four litters by the end of November, totalling 16 babies born so far. And we are expecting at least two more litters before the end of the hedgehog breeding season which is February / March 2009. Gemima, Miss Tiggy and Beatrix have been incredible mothers, raising their babies without any human intervention – we are relieved to report.

So why have we finally had such success? Well I do believe it is due to a few reasons which I will point out below;

• Firstly, the diet is very important and from a near 80% carnivorous diet we have introduce fruit on a daily basis where their diet now consists of at least 70% fruit and 30% meat.
• The environment is totally controlled with regards to temperature and this I do believe has made a huge difference. Throughout winter we kept their environment at a constant 24 oC plus – even with the lack of ZESA (electricity). Hedgehogs are prone to respiratory infections and in the past we have had mortalities due to pneumonia. Apart from ring worm, we have not experienced any respiratory problems or other ailments.
• We have also kept the females separate from the males. When the females are in season then the males are introduced, but only for awhile during the mating and then removed. When the hoglets are born we make sure that the females are on their own and that there are no disturbances.

GENET

Since our last newsletter, we have released four genet! Rascal & Widget, the two young males were the first to taste the freedom of Gosho Park (located near Springvale School & Peterhouse Girls school in Marondera – see our newsflash entitled Spots & Spines) The release has been highly successful and the boys have been sighted since the release which is hugely encouraging. Following this, Munchkin’s two offspring of 2007, Este & Lauder, were the next to be released in the same manner as the two boys. So, on the 8th November they were relocated to Robyn & Andy Jouchin, where they were left to settle until the 30th November and were then released. Both releases were what we call “soft-release” where a door or window is just opened and it is up to the animal to decide to go or stay. We are pleased to report that neither Este nor Lauder were hesitant in any way – they went out confidently and we believe have settled into the sights and sounds of Gosho very happily. What has been interesting, is the two boys who were both hand raised, were more hesitant in leaving their new safe environment and once released kept coming back to that environment. Where as the naturally raised genet, went wilder in the new environment and once released have not look back.

The genet news certainly doesn’t end there. The two orphaned genet, Coco & Dior have been the subject of some deliberation since they do not have a strong future as wild genet due to their respective setbacks. A further complication was that both were maturing sexually, and Dior was having some rather unbrotherly thoughts about his sister! Since separation was not an option, it was decided that Dior should be sterilized. So on the 30th September, Dior had his operation at Chisipite Veterinary Surgery under the care of Dr. Claire Savage and Dr. Margie Peacock and their assistants. The whole operation was hugely successful and Dior’s recovery was very rapid. We are also excited to report that it was the first genet castration performed by Drs Savage & Peacock and certainly the first performed at Chisipite Vet Surgery.

Eight days later, Dior having recovered very well from his operation, both these little genet were moved to an outside enclosure (having previously only lived indoors with us). They adjusted amazingly well and even became more approachable to new people. Due to the fact that they had settled so well, we decided that the next step would be to integrate all the genet, so that they could also be rotated in their enclosures. At the same time that we did the implant in Hooch, we made a decision to try the implant in Coco as well – as this type of contraceptive had not been tested in genet.

It has to be said that putting the implant in Coco was not as smooth sailing as it was in Hooch. For a start, immobilizing a genet is not so simple – their metabolic rate is so much higher than a wild cat and they react unpredictably to various drugs. She was given a dormicum (orally) at first to make her sedate and then given ketamine and xylazine to knock her out. Once she was anaesthetised, the implant then had to be manually cut in half as the dose was for an animal of 5kg. It is inserted subcutaneously in the skin between the shoulder blades. There was a slight hiccup when the implant came out with the needle and had to be sterilized and re-inserted. However, this was done expertly by Drs Foggin and Peacock and then Coco was put in a recovery box until she came round. But, it did not end there for Coco, 24 hours after the implant was put in, she got very sick. Her temperature plummeted and she was lethargic and off her food. She was brought back into the cottage for a couple of days and was nursed back to strength. We still are not 100% certain what caused this problem but it definitely had something to do with the implant whether it was a secondary infection from the entry wound or the implant itself. There is a very happy ending to this tale though – both Coco and Dior are absolutely fine after their respective sterilizations and they are integrated with Munchkin and the three are getting on famously.

CIVET

Francis has been a case study since arriving at the Trust. She has developed and grown into a magnificent female civet, however she has not totally overcome her pacing and panic attacks. With this in mind, we feel that maybe by introducing Francis to Assisi, our orphan male civet, she might be able to learn from him to be more relaxed and to sleep when civet are supposed to sleep – during the day!
There are always little events that serve as gentle reminders (and sometimes not so gentle!) that we are dealing with wild animals that can be aggressive and unpredictable. Francis is certainly no exception, and there is nothing quite as terrifying as a full frontal attack by a snapping and snarling civet. On the evening of 17th October Francis decided to show her “wild” side when Ellen walked into the enclosure with a late evening snack for all the civet. Fortunately no blood was shed, but it has reminded us that even routine behaviours can give unpredictable results. Thankfully we can report that no love was lost in the incident and Ellen & Francis have made up, but we have come up with a new game plan with regards to Francis and her introduction to Assisi. Sometime in the first week of Jan 2009 we are going to put a Suprelorin implant into Francis for contraception. By doing this we can rather focus on her and the introduction to the male civet without worrying about the possibility of breeding. The implant should work for approximately 12 months, which we feel is sufficient time for her settle and hopefully Zimbabwe. We will definitely keep you all posted!

PANGOLIN

The pangolin has to one of the most challenging animals I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Nothing prepares you for being in the presence of a pangolin. Since my first encounter with a pangolin in 2000, I continue to marvel at these creatures. This most certainly is an animal that sees right into your soul. No wonder the elders of long ago – so revered this mammal, and deemed it so sacred that only a King or chief could receive them. Since the farm invasions and the Trust having to move, we have not been able to do too much work with the pangolin other than working on the transmitters and assisting in getting pangolins released from National Parks.
Thankfully, we have found Roxy Danckwerts of Chedgelow Farm, to be another person whose life is being touched by these phenomenal mammals. Roxy has a wildlife sanctuary on the outskirts of Harare, taking in animals who have been on farms that were invaded and orphaned animals who otherwise would have no where to go. Each animal is not only given the most amazing environment to live in but they are individual adored and taken care of.

On 25th August 2008 Roxy received a young female pangolin and immediately contacted the Trust. Due to the fact that we no longer had suitable facility to maintain pangolin, Roxy very kindly agreed to keep “Mbira” at Chedgelow Farm, as she has a better food source to maintain a pangolin – ants and termites! Each pangolin needs to walk a minimum of two to three hours a day to forage, so this is near impossible to achieve based in town. When we name an animal, a lot of thought goes into that naming. So what is “Mbira”? – in our Zimbabwean culture it is a musical instrument, normally associated with bringing rain which means bringing hope, or communicating with the ancestral spirits.

It seemed that our pangolin acquisitions were not going to stop there, on 22nd October “Tsonga: was delivered to the National Parks Head Quarters – another juvenile female pangolin. (Tsonga – African musical flute bow) We were contacted and asked if we could take her on, as she was too young to release back into the wild. Without hesitation I collected her from Parks and drove straight out to Roxy. On arrival Tsonga, appeared to be in good condition, just under weight, which is to be expected due to the time of year, and also we were not sure how long she had been in captivity. However due to their age, this underweight condition would prove to be the most challenging issue to face. Cape Pangolin, are by far one of the world’s hardest animals to keep in captivity and one of the biggest obstacles is their specialized diet. The Cape Pangolin just will not eat an artificial diet, even after trying the same diets which are used on the Chinese pangolin and the Tree pangolin both of whom are native to Asia, our pangolin quite simply refuse all substitute diets. Through our work with pangolin at the Trust, we have found that they need to walk in order to find their prey, (which consist mainly of ants and termites) I believe that the walking stimulates their digestive juices, enabling them to eat. Pangolins have incredible mouths & stomachs. The mouth does not open with jaws but it is tubular, through which a long tongue protrudes. The stomach is highly muscular, much like a bird’s gizzard, which enables the pangolin to grind up the insect bodies of the ants and termites that it eats.

All the Danckwerts’ and their staff have been truly amazing with these girls. Being such an intensive animal, each pangolin requires two handlers, so as they can be walked daily. These two have been giving everything a pangolin could wish for in captivity; a secure and artificially heated den complete with their own duvets, dedicated handlers who walk with them for hours each day and the love and attention lavished on them by Roxy and family. The Trust would like to extend a huge thank you to the Danckwerts family and all at Chedgelow Farm, for their support and dedication towards the future survival of this very important species – the Cape Pangolin.

OTHER ANIMALS

Even though the Trust’s focus is mainly on wild animals there have been a few domestic ones that have found their way into our lives. Frank, who is short for Frankenstein, is a chicken. Yes a chicken, which has spent the best part of his life contributing to ostrich research by having to give his blood daily. When I met Frank at the Wildlife Veterinary Unit, it has to be said I was rather shocked. I then asked Chris Foggin whether it would be possible for Frank to retire at Greenhills and live out his days that once he had reached an age where he could no longer be bled,. Being a man of his word, Chris let me know when that time had arrived for Frank to be retired and so he came home. What a chicken he has subsequently been. It has to be said Frank rules this roost.

On the 24th September 2008 – Frank was to get a true friend in the form of a young Boran bull calf who we named Tutelo. With the shortage of livestock feed and the continuous burning which takes place in Zimbabwe around this time of year, there have been many cows that have given birth but have not been able to feed their young. Tutelo was one of these such victims. Having never raised a domestic mombe (this is the Shona word for “cow”) it was to be yet another learning curve. Tutelo found himself in a wooden box right by my bedroom. Being a lot larger than the animals I am use to raising it was decided that he could not be litter trained at such an early age and that therefore the bed was out! One has to have some standards! Tutelo and Frank became inseparable and great friends, when the time came for Tutelo to move outside due to his weight and not being able to lift him into his night box, he and Frank would keep each other company outside in the new paddock which was erected for him. To date, Frank is still at Greenhills running the roost and Tutelo has gone to learn how to become a young bull.

And then came Barbatis! Late one evening on the 14th October Ellen found a young fledgling black-eyed bulbul lying on the floor outside. As it was dark there was no way of trying to find the parents, we kept him warm over night so that is how Barbatis came to into our lives. Pycnonotis Barbatis is the zoological name for these common garden birds but by no means was Barbatis common. Sharing anything from poached egg to macaroni, he was one of the happiest little (non-blue) birds we have ever met.

From the photo you can see that Kimba is growing! She has settled into her little family herd like she had always belonged there. She still definitely has only one tusk and it seems that this is how she is to be. This is one little success story that is a constant source of encouragement for all of us.

KUSANGANISA

2008, has been a very trying time for all involved in Kusanganisa here in Zimbabwe. At this stage, morale from teachers, children and parents are incredible low. No sooner, had we survived the election period and were about to take a breath, when the Government teachers started striking due to the ridiculously low salaries which they were given. These teachers could not even afford to go into town to cash their pay cheques and then get home again because the transport charges would be more than their salaries! So, after a lot of soul searching and looking at options, we realised that only way to keep the teachers motivated and teaching, was to subsidise them. It is with great pride and relief that I can report that during the country-wide teacher strikes, the teachers at the Kusanganisa schools stuck to their jobs and they all tried to maintain normality within their respective schools. With the year end exams, we were worried that not all the grade seven children would be able to write them due to excessive costs and the lack of exam papers being issued to the schools. Once the exams were finished, parents decided that there was not much reason for the children to attend school anymore with the country in its current situation and this has put a serious damper on our phase three projects. Without the children, the phase three projects like the cropping and the livestock programs have no real purpose, as it is the school children who are supposed to learn from them.
Perhaps with hindsight, we would have seen that we were overly ambitious with the Tobacco crop project at Nehanda School this year. High on the success of our onion crop, we first discussed the option of tobacco with the teachers and the parents, and there was much excitement as it is a commercially viable crop with good return. We were also going to have a constant source of advice and management of the crop through the Mashonaland Tobacco Company who were to assisting with the tobacco crop. After getting off to a slightly late start on the 4th November, the ridging and pre-fertilizing was done. It was at this critical stage of the crop that the Grade 7 children stopped coming to school. So without the children, the tobacco crop would not have enough labour to make sure the tobacco seeds would reach the critical 6 weeks stage without the weeds attacking them and killing them. After careful consideration and discussions with both the teachers of Nehanda and Chris Sheppard of Mashonaland Tobacco, we have decide to pull the tobacco crop for this coming season and focus on the next season.

There is nothing more bitter in the mouth that the prospect of failure, and I must admit that I have taken this collapse of the project rather personally. I was, wanting the horse to gallop towards the finish line so to speak, when actually the horse had a broken leg! The teachers of Nehanda School were way out of their depth with this project as none of them had any tobacco-growing experience. Added to this, the lack of support from the children, who themselves are only listening to their parents who are also suffering from the depression that Zimbabwe is in. To recover from the completely demoralizing aspect of the failed crop, we rallied together and put an incentivizing program for the teachers to grow their own maize at the school. This is at least a crop that they all know very well and better still – a food source for the hard months ahead. We will then have to concentrate on just surviving this coming year and making sure that the teachers are totally focused and introducing the importance of our environment, now more than ever, because our future generations need to know how to co-exist with their environment and not destroy it! There is no back up plan when it comes to Africa and the Government protecting the interests of her people. The people need to become self-sufficient and not always relying on someone else.

SPONSORS

As always, we cannot express enough gratitude to all the people who make it possible for us to do what we do here at the Trust. Without the help and support that you give us, our work would be extremely difficult and in many instances impossible. We hope that you feel as much a part of progress of the work with the Tikki Hywood Trust as we feel that you are.

African Genesis
Bevis & Anna Smyth
Buddy Mockford
Bushman Rock Estates
Chishakwe Ranch
Cipla – Dr Craig Mincher & Michelle Louw
Country Animal Clinic - Karin Wilson
Croplink
Danckwert’s Family & Chedgelow Farm
Drakemed Supplies – Albert Nortje
Friend Foundation
Graham Smith
Gunther Kerschbaumer – Gunther Kerschbaumer
Hermanus Vet Hospital - Michelle Lawrance & Lindsay
Irvine’s Chickens
Julian Howard
Karl van Laeren
Koala Park Abattoir
Kyron Laboratories – Candice Lamb
Louise Erhet
Mashonaland Tobacco Company
N. Tselentis (PVT) Ltd.
Paul & Kim Wolfe
Pegasus Homeopathic - Ian Wheeler
Richard Rennie Gallery & Framing Centre
Save Foundation Australia
South African Flower & Gem Essences – Janet Unite-Penny
Spar Ballantyne (Meyer Rick)
Stone Hill Sanctuary
The Donkey Trust – Ian Redmond
Tim Paulet
Willowmead Junction