Zimbabwe Seven

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 20 2009 | By: zimbabwe7

Readers, you have every right to wonder where we have been!!! Sorry once again for our silence and lack of informing you on what is going on in our lives of conservation here in Zimbabwe.

It has been a very difficult as well as an emotional time for all at the Tikki Hywood Trust, to make the decisions we have had to make.  With the current situation here in our country from an economic, political as well as poaching front, we have decided that we will no longer be breeding, as we can not ensure the survival of our animals and the probability of them not being poached remains very slim.

The land issue continues to create huge uncertainly here in Zimbabwe, and without any land tenure it is difficult for Zimbabweans, and for that matter outside investors to feel confident in Zimbabwe.  Without confidence you are not able to proceed with positive and or pro-active ideas and future planning for wildlife and industry.

It is vital that we continue to work with our Department of National Parks & Wildlife Management Authorities in improving the legislation for the wildlife.  This year alone we have managed to increase the poaching fines to realistic levels, as well as make sure that they are payable in US$, a more stable currency.  Bail for any offender involved in poaching of any wild animal has been denied – this is a big step in the right direction, as many culprits flee once they know they might have a pending court case.

Currently at the centre we have African wild cat, African civet, Bat-eared foxes, Genets, Serval and Southern African hedgehogs that are all capable of breeding.  In all of these species we are exploring various means of contraception. We are using a contraceptive implant called Suprelorin, which is presented in a subcutaneous insertion containing 4.7mg Deslorelin. It is mostly used in males for contraception, but can also be used in females, so as a result we have used this implant in females of the following species : Genet, Bat-eared Fox and African wild cat. We have also used the same implant for our male serval, even though we currently only have him on the property and he does not have a breeding partner. We have implanted Rafiki firstly to gauge his response to the contraception and also in the hopes that the hormone adjustment may help him re-adjust to captivity as he is quite a nervous cat.  Even though we may not be breeding our species, we aim to continue assisting them through research and creating better handling and care techniques for those still in captivity.

A good look at India’s teeth shows she has a plaque build-up that will need to be scraped.

India receiving her implant

Sahara under anaesthetic ready to receive the implant

Measuring Sahara’s teeth

Furry Bat-eared Fox paw!

Rafiki receiving his implant

Perfect serval teeth!

Checking on Rafiki’s weight - we are pleased to note that he has picked up nicely since coming back to the Trust

However, there is one species that we can’t NOT breed, due to their small size and manageability, as well as their incredibly low numbers countrywide, and that is our very own Southern African hedgehog. With the success that we had in the previous breeding season of 2008, we have to continue with this winning formula and start getting more hedgehogs back into the wild where they belong. But, they are certainly at no less risk of being decimated, so this makes it a very difficult decision to attempt any release. Also, due to the fact that so little is known about these animals we cannot afford to miss an opportunity to observe them and therefore must determine the best post-release tracking methods possible. For this reason we have identified an area in the south of Zimbabwe which is ideal terrain and we will establish a release program there for some of the recently bred hedgehogs. This is going to be a very thorough and long-term project, so we will keep you posted! For the time being, we would like to ask our readers to think about hedgehog tracking and give us some ideas…….

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