Emergency op to save starving wildlife

A NATIONWIDE emergency relief operation is under way to save thousands of starving wildlife.

The operation began this week when wildlife protection group Boots on the Ground began delivering tons of lucerne‚ special game feed pellets and other feed supplements to game reserves across South Africa.

The reserves have been stricken by nearly two years of drought. The drought’s devastation is evident. Thousands of kilometres of once fertile lands lie barren.

The heat has turned once nutritious grasslands into dust bowls‚ as muchneeded rain fails to fall.

With temperatures across the country’s northern provinces hovering in the high 30s, animals that once grazed side by side are now turning on each other as they fight over the few remaining grazing patches.

For Broken Tusk‚ it is a battle he cannot afford to lose.

The six-ton elephant stands firm‚ ears flapping in anger‚ before lucerne bales that have just been distributed at a Limpopo game reserve.

His enemies for now are not poachers, but the three starving rhinos in front of him.

They have all been scrounging for food for months. Now that it has arrived, they are desperate‚ and will not back down in their attempts to reach it‚ not even from each other.

While these animals fight it out‚ thousands of others – not yet reached on remote game farms – have been dropping dead.

Kudu‚ giraffe‚ zebras‚ wildebeest‚ rhinos and antelope are dying.

A rhino farm owner, who did not want to be named, said: “The drought affects all game farms‚ government and private. It’s about helping the animals and we are working with those in need.

“The problem is it’s not enough to help all those desperately in need.

“With calving season approaching, we will now provide milk for the young.” – TMG Digital