The mind boggles, I believe that people are being allowed to cart of bloated gemsbok carcasses from the beach to consume..... These are the poor fella's that have been caught up in the flood.....
Wonder which smart arse approved this .....
Tryge has only just retired and things are being done differently......
trex-073
Thanks to Jacques Kemp for the snaps...
What happened to the natural disposal system - the strandwolve, jackals and gulls? I can recall a time when a gemmie or a bok went down it was consumed that same night, with any pickings going to the gulls next day. The bulk went to the strandwolve who would totter off around midnight totally sated, allowing the jackals to come in and feast until sun up, then it was the turn of the birds.
Is it possible that beach mining interrupted the natural nocturnal patterns of the predators?
Stennie, was just commenting how he spotted a Strandwolf outside his place last week..... seem's that they are more apt to wandering the streets these days.....
The hyena is the only animal I was ever poep-scared of during my stay in Omund. Though very cowardly it has a nasty habit of using pack attack in which they ring around an animal and nip in for quick bites. Their jaws are so powerful they can bite through bone with ease. At camp sites they go for any exposed part of the person, usually the face poking out of a sleeping bag. After dark is their preferred feeding period but in times of hunger they will attack at any hour of the day if they see an opportunity.
I once had a call-out for a night time power failure at Mittag. After isolating the fault and repairing it I waited at the substation to be picked up, got impatient and started to walk along the sand road in the direction from which I expected the vehicle to come. Within minutes I realised I was being followed and caught a reflection of hyena eyes in the torchlight. I quickly found a power pole that I could get my back against and held them off by sweeping the flashlight around. Or so I thought. Years later I was told by the chief ranger at the Skeleton Coast Park that they were only waiting for me to get tired enough and then they'd rush me.
Fortunately - very fortunately as the bloody torch battery was failing - I saw headlights and signalled the vehicle to stop. My lift thought my story was hilarious and said "everybody knew" hyenas were too cowardly to attack people. I offered to swop the torch for the vehicle and come back in half an hour for him so that he could test his theory but, unlike the hyenas, he didn't bite.
If the buggers have now appeared in Oranjemund it means the kids are at risk. Time to do some culling.
A pic of a small Standwolf seen in town recently, don't let the back ground/scaling deceive you this guy is much bigger than he appears to be in the picture.
Well these strandwolwe were the animals I was most scared of when I grew up in Oranjemund.
Nice pics, thanks Stennie!
Wonder where the big one is?
In the long alley behind your house LOL
Michael,
These are the most dangerous animals in Africa. They have no place anywhere near human habitation. Children most definitely are at risk. Late night drunks and anyone walking alone are also targets.
I can't stress this too strongly. Respectfully suggest you get onto the powers that be for some action here. Either poisoning, trapping or shooting - whatever it takes, but get them out and keep them out of the township.
Yes, I'm very scared of them as well. But like you say- they are dangerous when hunting in packs. I have never heard of any "packs" in the desert. As far as I know, these "strandwolwe" are usually loners, scavenging for food usually close to the beaches. Does anybody know of ANY attacks in the past in any coastal area of Namibia?
Oh, and Bob - don't like your poisoning idea at all. How will you make sure you will only kill the strandwolf without killing dozens of innocent silver back jackals, bak-oor jakkalsies, meerkats, etc. etc... and the neighbor's dog?
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Quote from: Bertie Horak on January 20, 2011, 05:29:54 AM
Oh, and Bob - don't like your poisoning idea at all. How will you make sure you will only kill the strandwolf without killing dozens of innocent silver back jackals, bak-oor jakkalsies, meerkats, etc. etc... and the neighbor's dog?
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Agreed Bertie --
One night shift as production foreman at No 1 Plant I decided to give the guy on the tailings dump a scare....but he would see me coming in my bakkie, so I decided to climb the dump from the disposal side and I arranged with hugo vd Merwe to fetch me in 30 minutes. Arriving at the top...dead tired, I crawled to the shelter the guy built for himself growled like strandwolf and scrathed at the asbestos. The guy jumped out with a pick handle in his hand and nearly beat me....I dont know who got the biggest fright!!! Luckily for me Hugo just arrived and intervened...the story goes on...but that was one of my experiences with strandwolves!
How high was that dump at the stage you climbed it?
Dont know exactly, but Ronnie Potgieter just to run against the tailings with a tyre tied to his middle. About the size of 4 plat "current dump" Was quite an effort I tell you!
Poison bait needs to be handled carefully using rubber gloves. It should preferably be fed directly to the target animal, in the case of a hyena perhaps toss it out of a car window. A hyena will eat almost anything. One sniff of the meat and it will bolt it down immediately.
Cyanide is an instantaneous poison and undetectable when inserted into a piece of offal. Death occurs within seconds. Then the body should be disposed of immediately either by cremation or burial.
I'm sure the local butcher will happily supply the offal, the pharmacist can source the cyanide. An adult hyena weighs about 70 kilos. The pharmacist can calculate the amount of cyanide required for that body size and perhaps even load the bait for safety sake. Any responsible person can do the rest.
Parents of small children in Oranjemund should be demanding this action immediately. Hyenas and residential areas are not a healthy mix. A single hyena in a township is a disaster waiting to happen.
Don't get squeamish, get moving. Most of all, don't just talk this subject to death. If you do, that's precisely what will happen - sooner or later.
I still dont think it's necessary to kill these animals. They are unique to the area and poses no threat to humans. The only time they would be dangerous:
- If there's rabies in the area, which according to the experts there isn't any cases at the moment. And also in such a case it would be clear that the animal is sick.
- If you corner the animal or try and attack it with a stick when cornered (wouldn't you also fight back then?)
This animal photographed has been studied by people who know the animals and said it looks like an older female, probably just looking for a free meal left by human trash.
There has been ZERO accounts of any attacks by Brown Hyenas (Strandwolwe) on humans, in other words, NO accounts ever.
I think before any drastic actions are taken, the people in the know should first be consulted, before we wipe out yet another unique species which makes our special town and its surrounds so special.
For more information, why not check out the "Brown Hyena Research Project" website at www.strandwolf.org.za. Or speak to Dr. Ingrid Wiesel who is stationed in Luderitz - I dont think we'll get any more knowledgeable person regarding the strandwolwe. Her tel no: ++264(0)63202114.
Well said Bertie, I am in full agreement with you in all you have mentioned here. I remember when we were erecting the plant out at Bakers Bay, there were plenty of strandwolwe there due to all the seals in the area. We used to feed them eventually by hand as they got so tame. I had a photo of Tobi (Groenewalds Construction contractor) feeding them. If I find the photo I will post it. They are harmless animals and also have a right to live. All animals have a reason to be on this earth and if man stops interfering with nature, we will have a better world to live in.
Absolute nonsense that brown hyenas are in any way dangerous to people, anybody who even calls him or herself an Oranjemunder should know that. Like with any animal, if cornered it could potentially pose a threat, but as a scavenger it is a shy animal who avoids human contact, hence around here it is considered a privilege to catch a glimpse of it. It is a species that is actually on the red data list and should be fairly high on our agenda to protect and conserve. Thanks for the info Bertie.
Thanks to Bertie for the references. They provided some very useful quotes as follows:
from the website of the Predator Conservation Trust:
"Although Brown Hyena are no longer listed on CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), they are a protected species in Namibia and not trophy hunted, although they are shot when they come in to conflict with people."
And the following from the Brown Hyena Research Project based at Luderitz:
"Brown hyenas foraged opportunistically by scavenging, killing and catching seal pups in proportion to their occurrence at the colony, and hence caused an additional impact on seal pup mortality by not only choosing the doomed surplus. Brown hyenas preferred to consume larger and heavier prey"
"They cover vast areas and it is not uncommon for them to travel as far as 40 km in a single night. They eat nearly everything they can find, from fruit and insects to mammals. They have very powerful jaws and large strong teeth for crunching through bone."
"No other large predators occur in our coastal study areas and therefore brown hyenas are the apex predators."
So, from the above I deduce that we have a bone-crunching predator with a penchant for killing seal pups up to the size of a large dog, that can travel up to 40km a night in search of food and is now so desperate it appears in Oranjemund in daylight.
I rang Dr Wiesel but she wasn't available. I will try again though I very much doubt she would willingly mix hyenas and children as a few committed hyena huggers seem happy to do. Can we have some sensible input from mothers of children here?
Meantime, I repeat, get that animal the hell out of the township by whatever means at hand
Thanks RIP, nice to hear from somebody in the know.
I spoke to Dr Wiesel yesterday, and I'm happy to say she also agrees that if left alone, they offer no threat. If I'm a hyena-hugger, so be it... I'll wear that label with pride....
As far as I'm concerned, I made my point and will stick to science rather than speculation. Over and out (probably).
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Hi Bertie....this is not a for or against vote.....you know we got bored on shift sometimes and then you play silly buggers......one of the mining guys chased a strandwolf once through the desert in his landrover....after a while the thing got upset, turned and attacked the landrover...bit holes right through the aliminium mudguard and attacked the tyre then....needless to say the guy turned to the offices in big haste to tell of his adventure...white as a sheet!
Serves him right, Carl! trex-073
Hyena huggers ?? I recall as a youngster hyenas jakkals and Gemsbuck would come into town at night , the town was in its infancy , what has happened over the years is they all have got used to the town and the people and are in essence not shy anymore , not desperate , if there were never attacks in the town over the years at night , then if left alone and not bothered will not turn on one and defend itself and chew tyres etc .. my 2 $ worth ..
I have had a few experiences with the strandwolf; when Richard ? (can't remember his surname), was doing his documentary on the strandwolf in Luderitz, he invited Roger and I to come up and see his work with one (bred in captivity) that he had brought in from Onderstepoort to film certain sequences. We arrived and his assistant Kim formed a trail of dead chicks to entice her out of her shelter. She started off munching the chicks until she saw my son Rafe who was about 4 at the time and she suddenly took off and leaped at him before anyone could move. She knocked him flat on his back and proceeded to lick him from head to toe! It was astounding and I recall Richard saying that he'd never seen anything like it. He did say though that they can be very dangerous particularly when cornered in an unfamiliar setting such as a town. He also said that being naturally shy, they would normally run away before attacking unless they were starving, injured or rabid.
Ar Meob we saw them often in and around the camp but the only thing I recall them dragging off to eat was someones flip fops; otherwise they were after baby seals.
And then of course, there was the time we accidentally left Rafe on a salt pan for a minute with him trying to call the strandwolf like a cat! Don't ask people .... it's a long story! Suffice to say we grabbed him before he got to the "big kitty"!
So, on the one hand I agree with Bob that they should not be encouraged to hang about town - they can be a danger - I would hate to see drastic action like killing them as a solution. We have already decimated so many species; let's not add any more to our human shame list!
madashell Bob Malloy, maybe we should throw some poison out the window at you! The strandwolfe were there long before you came and left Oranjemund. They do no harm and are an important part of the dessert, they leave us alone and don't have the ability to reason like a human being but do a extremely good job at what they are meant to do, clean up carcasses, hunt for prey, and lead solitary lives. LEAVE THEM ALONE! MAybe we should start eradicating human beings that only do or want to do harm? I can think of who would be first on my list..
I spoke to Dr Wiesel yesterday. We had a fruitful and very pleasant conversation. She told me she'd had several sightings of this hyena reported to her since last October, all of them in or around Oranjemund.
She felt its behaviour was unusual, certainly its appearance in the residential area during daylight hours was cause for some concern. She warned that a hyena would normally avoid people but if cornered or threatened would attack and added that possibly it might have to be darted and removed.
On that basis my view bears repeating: the brown hyena in this part of Namibia is an apex predator. In other words it is the top killing machine in the Sperrgebiet and should be regarded as such. If that point is adequately publicised around town, particularly to families of small children, it should be sufficient to alert most people to a potential danger that can be avoided.
Prior to the opening of the town, early 70s I think, it was fenced off and closely gated at night. No wild animals entered though at one stage a jackal was spotted. Security put it down to a more enterprising animal that had snuck in during daylight.
Skinny's ad hominem attack adds more heat than light to this discussion. It says much more about Skinny than it does about his target. Perhaps he should take more water with it.
When I saw the beast towards the end of last year, it was walking down the road between the cricket club and the mule derby at about 07h30...... when all the people started to point it out and watch from a distance (120m), the animal started to run away, across the hockey (old Soccer ) field and out past the MOTHS......
"Skinny's ad hominem attack adds more heat than light to this discussion. It says much more about Skinny than it does about his target. Perhaps he should take more water with it."
Me thinks that the gentleman doth protest to much.
A) skinny is a woman me, B) you cannot just descriminate against an animal that has been on this earth alot longer than any human, C) Bob you know sod all about me and apart from your very barbed comments against Jews and the Holocaust etc it seems to me that you would like to exterminate any thing and every thing you do not agree with, I am a proud Jewess and an animal lover of all creatues great and small. The attack on you is playing the ball and not the man, however you don't seem to see it that way.
I have seen strandwolfe in town, on the beach, on the road to Daberas on many occasions, seen them in Luderitz and Bogenvelles, and there has not been one accasion that they have even looked like attacking anything or any human being. Have respect for them, leave them alone and they will leave you alone. At least here we didn't indiscriminatly go and hunt local inhabitents like they did in Australia! Or take children away from their parents and give them to families to use and abuse, like in Australia (the movie The Rabbit Fence comes to mind) so protest I do most strongly. There is nothing stopping you going and poisoning a few koala bears or wallabies etc. I am sure the Australians would love you to poison the bears, after all they are shy,climb trees, eat leaves and there have been some documented attackes on humans when cornered! Unlike the strandwolfe where there is not one documented attack. So Bob, I do enjoy a little water with my whiskey and the topic deserves all the debate that it can muster after all if it wasn't for alot of people there would be alot more animals extinct out there. thumper
Ok my Geography is still not up to scratch, my apologies, I mixed up Australia and New Zealand so amend my latest "attack" to poison a few kiwi birds, and shoot a few Moaries, after all one for all and all for one. Please note I DO NOT condone that any anaimal gets poisoned, killed or exterminated (Dodo bird comes to mind) or shoot or kill any human being, just trying to make a point. Every one is entitled to one and after all what is the forum without a few good bites every now and again. My sincere apologies to all the geography pundits out there. hammer
I SUBSCRIBE TO AVAAZ .ORG AND A FEW OTHER ACTVIST SITES ,, GET REGULAR CAUSES TO VOTE ON FOR PETITIONS ... GOT THIS ONE TODAY ,,,
WOULD SAY ITS RELEVANT ??
I COPIED IT INTO WORD DOC ..
Oh good grief people .. have a decent debate without attacking others and wishing ill ... not nice so play nice!
Hi Skinny,
Belated happy birthday and apologies for getting your gender wrong. Though I must admit you scored delightfully when you put wallabies and koalas in my back garden and then put a fence through it with the cobbers on one side and Aborigines on the other. I couldn't even get my car out because the fence crossed the driveway but fortunately when I woke up in this morning you'd taken it all back. Whew!
Not sure about the Holocaust reference but I do feel you have the anti-semitic thing by the wrong end of the stick. My wife's father is a Cohen who fled Germany with his brother and two sisters in the late Thirties. He settled in South Africa, served as a medical officer in the South African armed forces during the western desert and Italian campaigns and later practiced in Johannesburg as a heart surgeon where he founded his present family. The other siblings went to Palestine and settled on a kibbutz which my wife and I visited after the Yom Kippur war with the aim of settling there. Picking oranges for a living didn't quite cut it for a pair of hardline journos so we eventally came here to Godzone with two laaitjies under the age of five and started our own printing and publishing business.
We've had various Israeli relatives visit us over the years the latest a few months ago, he a former fighter pilot in the Six Day War and she an officer in the IDF in that war. Their take on the Promised Land would only dismay you so I won't repeat it here. But as they said they are stuck with it and now in their late sixties see little hope for their erring nation and can only pray their grandchildren will sort it out.
It's possible you are confusing Zionism with Judaism, a common misconception. I think my point was that the Holocaust has been abrogated by Zionists and turned into an industry which not only supplies funds but also a shelter behind which more dubious practices can be hidden. There's a growing belief among international Jewry that Zionism is not necessarily the best thing that has happened to them. There's a very good Jewish blog based in New York called Mondeweiss which is worth reading if you are interested in the subject.
I think I also queried whether we should even be talking such issues on this website as they are hugely contentious and can generate volcanic feelings on both sides. Perhaps could Michael rule on that.
And thanks to Sandy for the mention of the 1080 petition. It is indeed a noxious poison that degrades the environment. Ironically, it is routinely used in air drops by the New Zealand Department of Conservation to kill possums which are a non-indigenous species that suddenly exploded in numbers when first imported here and now munch up some 70,000 tonnes of vegetation a night, destroying the forests and killing native birds.
My wife, who is the editor of the local paper and also a trustee of a forestry group, feels this is a scatter gun approach that, yes, is highly effective in killing possums but can poison the waterways and sometimes kills other wildlife including the birds it is supposed to protect. Some new ideas, such as possum contraception in food pellets are being trialled. Meantime she has for the past three years been running a campaign in her newspaper against 1080 and feels confident the political will is swinging in favour of banning it.
Now where's that damn hyena?
Look all you want, Bob, you wont find her. I now put my pet hyena in the back garden every night so you cant poison the sweet ol' girl...
image19
Aah !! some humour coming in here ... good , Bobs story of the driveway ha ha .. we need humour in our lives .. life is hard enough and yes we sometimes get passionately caught up in things , or put the proverbial foot in the mouth .. been there myself on this forum .. so now all of you reach out and try reach a common ground ..
Will ask my pet hyena if she's willing to share. Her ancestors were in Oranjemund loooooong before us mortals...
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Actually its true Bertie does have a pet hyena in his back yard . saw it when we visited last year ... cat3
@ Bob, point taken, appreciate the comments, I too have famiky in Israel and as explained in another topic about the family, so endeth this lesson. I appreciate the debate in all forms and as I said previously, man, ball etc. Just get very aggitated by some of the comments, but there again debate issues and get full story. Thank you for birthday wishes too. I really was not attacking you. The hyena is cowering in Bloemfontein, great burglar deterrent. image24
@Bertie, Thanks hide the hyena if Bob is around image201
@Sandy, arm chairs abound! Great link thanks and thanks for the calls you make my day. Love to the girls and Paul. Will image071 lightly from now on!
And peace reigned in Hyenaland again , and Berties pet hyena no longer has to hide ... cat3
Yes, she's safe... will try and attach a photo to this post... her name is Dakota.
I too get a bit fuming a little too quickly with some issues close to my heart, especially when there's children, plants, animals and geriatrics involved (not naming any names here... he-he).
But debate is good, and the Oranjemund connection is there, let's keep the desert jewel spirit alive through our connection....
[ ** No animals have been hurt during the debate on this topic ** ]
you rock
See I told you all so .. shes one very tame and loving hyena ,, actually an african hairless dog breed if I remember correctly...
Oh there's the gorgeous Dakota - she really is a sweetie! All good there Bertie?
Hyena in the back garden? Hmmm, can I have your street address Bertie?
It's amazing how the Gemsboks for dinner turned out to be a Hyena topic LOL. you rock all of you and happy to see their is concensus here. Bertie I am with you on children, animals and plants, they all very close to my heart. allgood
You wish, Bob. It's a smallholding, no public entrance, we have to be notified by visitors before we open the gates... hyenas too precious...
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Posted by: Bob Molloy
« on: January 26, 2011, 11:53:02 PM » Insert Quote
Hyena in the back garden? Hmmm, can I have your street address Bertie?
Mmmm Ok Bob gets one more karma plus for displaying a wicked sense of humour
By the way Bob its a long long row in your canoe ...
... and I just gave Sandy a Karma point for having a good memory!
:emot112_2:
Sandy just gave me an idea.... wha-ha-ha-ha ha....
Bob, when you get to the coast, just row upstream on the "Breede River", it will eventually pass my plot where I keep my pet hyenas.
Shhh, dont tell Bob... I have pet giant crabs the size of bulldogs (and loves to overturn canoes) guarding the plot on the side of the Breede river ? But dont worry, they're only on the one side of the property, the hyenas are on the other side where I keep my 5 Cape Cobras, 3 Puffadders and 2 Boomslang......
Ok, now back to the topic.... anybody know how many dead gemsbok have been found so far? I suppose only a fraction of drowned animals will actually be seen. The rest sadly probably became fish food...
Hey, was told that security had to remove dead carcasses to be cut up for nourishment to be sent north for the under-priveleged. Don't know if sumone protected my unforgiving tender tummy, but I wish and believe it to be so. (I am vegetarian, always have been). C