Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Game Capture



18 March 2011

This was probably the most exciting and fun week I h
ave had to date in the second year of my Resource Guardianship. With my first group of first years, as well as the species care group, we helped in the set up of the boma where the animals were going to be chased into before being led into the truck. This was very important for the first years in particular to cover their harvesting of fauna unit standard. For the second year students it was important for our carry out a game capture operation unit standard.

Before any game capture operations can begin, we had to go through all the planning with the first years, as well as explain to them how the game capture was going to work, what was going to be caught, and the most vital safety aspects that had to be followed to prevent injury. The first years were all very excited to get started on the game capture, but they had to do the hard work before the fun began.

The set up of the boma was the first really crucial thing that had to take place. The boma had to be set up in a place where we could be well hidden, that was relatively stable ground, as well as where there would be no obstructions on the curtains. The poles and cables went up pretty much in tandem, thereafter the curtains were hung up on the cables, and finally the camouflage areas were built up to hide the curtains and the men pulling the curtains.

Having to be at Sondela at half past 5 in the morning was critical, because with it being March and still summer, it got really hot really quickly so it was a major risk to have the animals running in the heat for risk of dehydration and fatigue. So the early morning start ensured the animals wouldn't be too greatly affected by the chase.

The helicopter was an essential part of the actual capture proceedings. When doing mass capture, the method we were using, the helicopter is very effective in chasing animals into the boma area and thus led onto the trailer of the truck.

The curtains on the boma are also very critical in ensuring that once the animals have been chased into the boma, that they don't escape again. the boma was designed in such a way that there are a series of boma curtains so that while the animals are chased further into the boma the curtains close behind them preventing their escape, Unfortunately for us Eland are unbelievable jumpers and one managed to clear the boma curtain.

In conclusion we managed to catch six Gemsbok bulls, a lot of Wildebeest as well as Zebra and Blesbok. It was an amazing experience and something I would definitely do again.

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