Mike Bolhuis’ big bird mission
He’s one of SA’s toughest detectives but he’s shown his softer side by helping to rescue hundreds of stricken birds
HE’S a giant of a man who doesn’t stand for any nonsense. Larger than life and tough as nails: that’s Mike Bolhuis. But the burly Pretoria private investigator is like that only when he’s around humans – with animals it’s a totally different story.
As he cradles a tiny grey chick protectively in the palm of his hand, the supersleuth is gentleness personified.
“The zest of life in these little birds,” he says softly. “Holding them and seeing just how much they want to live; their absolute dependence on you.”
After years of working on some of the country’s most high-profile cases Mike (59) thought he’d seen it all. He assumed there was no longer anything humans could do that would surprise him – but he was wrong.
A few weeks ago he was horrified to discover that because of the drought that continues to ravage the Northern Cape this little flamingo chick and thousands of others were being left to die an agonising death – from either starvation or heatstroke.
“It’s a crime,” says Mike, whose clients have included the late Springbok Joost van der Westhuizen and former Bosasa boss Angelo Agrizzi.
“I did a bit of investigating and I saw this has been going on under the noses of all the authorities for the past three years.”
Mike was appalled. Despite his heavy workload he knew he had to do something to help.
And that’s how he ended up flying 900 flamingo chicks to his home.
As he takes us on a tour of his smallholding in Leeuwfontein on the outskirts of Pretoria we hear the birds before we see them – their chirps fill the air.
In their fenced-in enclosures cute grey balls of fluff scurry around.
It’s feeding time and 30 or so volunteers are standing by with syringes filled with cereal to make sure every chick is fed.
It’s a mammoth undertaking but Mike has every intention of seeing it through – because if he doesn’t, who will?
MIKE has always had a deep love for animals – big and small. “I remember when I was young there were kids who were flattening frogs with a hammer and I beat the s**t out of them,” Mike recalls. “I always wanted to assist any animal in whichever way I could.”
His smallholding operates as an eco lodge that welcomes guests, and he also runs his PI business from the property. Before the rescue his personal collection of wildlife was already impressive, including 110 greater flamingos and 10 lesser flamingos as well as 10 crane species. But this has grown considerably.
Mike says he simply couldn’t turn a blind eye to what was happening at Kimberley’s Kamfers Dam, which is one of only four breeding grounds in Africa for lesser flamingos, a rare species that’s native to sub-Saharan Africa.
With parts of the dam drying up, adult flamingos have been forced to leave their young and move to spots that still have a bit of water.
“Because there are so many on a small piece of water they deplete the food,” Mike explains. “Where they’re used to four meals a day they’re getting just one so they’re all starving.”
Without enough food the adults don’t have the strength to return to feed their young.
“The chicks are either blinded by the sun or just burnt to death or dehydrated,” Mike says.
He knew this couldn’t be allowed to go on. With Linja Allen, chairperson of local action group Saam Staan Kimberley (“Stand Together Kimberley”), he began to hatch a plan.
Late in January, working with the department of environmental affairs, Linja and her team of volunteers rescued 900 flamingo chicks from the dam. They were housed at the SPCA overnight then loaded onto a plane the next morning to be taken to Mike’s smallholding.
Meanwhile the detective was getting everything lined up. He converted a few buildings on the farm, including an old gym and a worker’s cottage, to house the birds.
“We got the best doctors, vets, volunteers, sponsors and everyone involved. We’ve been swamped by offers of assistance and we could actually pick and choose.”
Even so, it was no small task. The youngest chicks needed to be fed every two to three hours so in the early stages Mike was pitching in, pulling all-nighters so he could help.
There are designated areas on the farm where the flamingo chicks are housed and even in the swelteringly hot summer weather each room is equipped with heaters to ensure it remains at just the right temperature.
Newborn chicks are kept in the infirmary room. This area is carefully monitored and everyone entering and leaving is required to be sanitised to avoid infections spreading.
There’s an area for young chicks that are still struggling and need a bit of tender loving care. And there’s another section for chicks that are stronger than the rest.
“The challenge is that in the wild chicks can eat by themselves pretty soon. But here it’s going to take six to eight weeks for them to do so,” Mike says.
After taking care of the birds for a few days he was able to move many of them to other farms and accredited institutions in Gauteng – for instance, Montecasino.
He now has about 400 chicks. The plan is that in the coming months the three groups of flamingos will merge into one. They’ll be kept on a part of the farm that has access to a dam and is away from human activity.
Once they’re capable of feeding themselves they’ll be returned to established flamingo colonies, preferably in the Northern Cape.
“This is the lesser flamingo,” Mike says. “It’s extremely endangered and eats a specific diet. The ideal place to keep them is where they came from.”
Meanwhile, even though he has his hands full, he’s getting ready to rescue 2 000 to 3 000 new chicks in the coming weeks. Some will be moved to his farm while others will be housed elsewhere around the country.
Luckily there’s no shortage of people willing to pitch in and help – either by giving their time or through generous donations such as cereal, water, heaters and cash.
Unfortunately it’s also come to Mike’s attention that scammers have duplicated some of the project’s flyers, providing false banking details in order to pocket the donations.
“We’ve quickly identified them and I’m warning those scammers, we’ll deal with them drastically,” he says.
“I have my own anticrime units, I have my own cybercrime units. We won’t tolerate any form of corruption.”
The project has clearly inspired him. He now has his sights set on launching an independent national rescue unit for wild animals, which will be staffed by volunteers, vets and ecologists.
“I want to be the go-to guy. If the authorities, businesses or institutions that are responsible for all things nature don’t act when there’s a public outcry, people can come to us and we can take immediate steps to assist animals – as we’re doing now.”