Rare and regulars at Royal Show
MARTIN Cone from Margate has been exhibiting at the Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg for 50 years, usually show pigeons.
He’s back this year to keep an eye on pigeons of all sorts of breeds, some quite rare, for young Port Shepstone pigeon owners Karen and Wynand van Wyk, who were not able to be with their charges this week because of school.
“We encourage youngsters to take up the sport of showing pigeons,” said Cone. “It keeps them away from computer games. It also gives them good knowledge of how to look after animals and it teaches them about genetics.”
Among the Van Wyk siblings’ flock are Capucines, originally from Italy; rare Suabians, originally from Denmark; and SA Toys, with a more local heritage.
They fascinated Makale Modichi, who came to the show from QwaQwa in the Eastern Free State, and was able to stroke one as Cone held it.
“I’ve always showed pigeons,” said Cone. “We had rabbits, but my kids grew up and that waned.”
The love of rabbits never waned for Heather Heron of Queensburgh, who keeps 16 breeds. Heron is a judge of the creatures at the show.
“I got my first one as a child. It was called Wabbit,” said Heron.
She and other rabbit enthusiasts consider themselves the custodians of rare breeds in South Africa.
A recent success has been to keep the beige rabbit, with lilac colouring, going after the population fell to two buck rabbits, she said. They found a tortoiseshell rabbit in Mossel Bay, with lilac, rather than the usual ginger-grey, colouring, to breed with one of the remaining beige rabbits and “got the lilac back”, Heron said proudly.
That progeny was on display at the show.
“Next year we are going to have to have a tent (to display rabbits) as well,” she said.
Supervisors made sure people entered the rabbit area in small groups.
“No using of cellphones, no photographs,” they ordered, explaining that rabbits were highly sensitive to stress.
Across the way, a bulky Ile de France ram came on the stage where Elias Zulu – half the sheep’s weight – demonstrated sheep-shearing. At times, equally bulky agricultural students from Grootfontein Agricultural College in the Northern Cape had to help keep the big ram down.
Outside in the crowds, camels proved a major attraction, carrying showgoers.
Teenagers Nospiho Ndlovu and Andile Mthembu, part of a school group visiting from Eqakwini High, near Mtubatuba, rode holding their cellphones ahead of them, taking selfies. “It was scary,” said Nosipho. “It was an adventure,” said Andile.