Keep Our Rescued Animals Healthy & Safe

In the past few weeks at Daktari, we’ve had moments of both joy and sorrow. One highlight was our visit to a local school, where we shared our passion for wildlife and taught the students about snakes. The children were fascinated and quickly formed a bond with these misunderstood creatures, reminding us how education can foster appreciation for wildlife.

On a more emotional note, we recently said goodbye to Popcorn, a little dwarf dassie who had been abandoned by his family. At Daktari, he was treated like royalty, often cuddled by volunteers and Michèle. When a team of Brazilian volunteers arrived, they lovingly offered acupuncture to ease his pain. Despite all our efforts, Popcorn passed away. His time with us was short, but he was surrounded by love and care until the end. While we will miss him dearly, we take comfort in knowing he is in a better place now, free from pain. Popcorn’s memory will forever be in our hearts, a reminder of the love and kindness that defines Daktari.

Unfortunately we need to share a sad update: one of our meerkats, Gaspar, has passed away. This left our remaining meerkat, Karools, all by himself and of course, he was very sad about this. But all staff and volunteers at DAKTARI made a joint effort to always keep him company. We even slept with him in our bed, to keep him warm during the cold winter nights of South Africa. 

Fortunately, this sad story has a happy ending. A few weeks ago, we welcomed four new meerkats to DAKTARI. Now we focus on trying to put them together with Karools so they can live as one big happy family - but as with all new friends, it takes time to get to know each other. We will keep you updated about the progress!

Except for welcoming the new meerkats, we also have welcomed two retired horses. Their names are Carl and Miguel and they are here to enjoy their retirement. Step by step we have introduced the horses to our kids and students, and last week we had the first pony riding session - highly appreciated by both the students of our bush school and the horses!

All other animals of DAKTARI, our lions and rock hyraxes, ostriches and donkey, cheetah and birds and all other animals and pets are in good health and enjoying their time under the African sun. 

Once again, all of us at DAKTARI want to take the opportunity to say THANK YOU for your donations. Thanks to your kindness we can continue to care for all the animals who need our help. Thank you!