Project Report
| Jul 18, 2023
ReWild Patient Update
By Amy Aucamp-Clark | Campaign Manager
![Epauletted Fruit Bats]()
Epauletted Fruit Bats
The end of summer and the breeding season, has sadly not meant that things have slowed down at the centre just yet. With the rains long gone and the bush drying up fast the species having their offspring in these conditions are finding it extremely hard. Thre has also been unseasonably strong winds over this past month leading to many nests being dislodged and parental bird dying. Here is a few of the most rescent pateint stories from the ReWild Clinic.
Gimble.
He is a baby Little Free-tailed bat that was picked up by a cat. The cats owner raced Gimble to us. He was dehydrated and emaciated but soon felt better after some emergency fluids and a good drink of milk formula. The actual damage from the cat was minimal; some bruising and a small scratch but Gimble did require antibiotics and struggled with infection in his first week with us. Most of Gimble’s first week with us he spent sleeping, a cuddle and a nap after a milk feed really seemed to comfort him. Gimble is now strong and well, and terribly cute. He will be released as soon as conditions permit.
Vincent
Well, I guess we had to call him Vincent. This baby tree squirrel was brought to us a few days ago after he was attacked by a cat. He was very bruised and had lost part of his ear. Vincent was very sore and miserable initially but is now feeling much better and settling in well. Once his bruising has resolved and his ear completely healed he will be able to join the other baby squirrels his age and enjoy some rough and tumble play.
Blue Waxbills (To many to name)
A nest of baby Blue waxbills was brought to us after it had fallen from a tree alongside a dam and the mother had drowned. Waxbills belong to the finch family and all finches have patterns inside their mouths and we can use these to help us identify what species they are even when they are still naked and very young.They are now full of feathers and will be fledgling from the nest and back into the wild soon.
Epauletted Fruit Bats
It's not all be bad news, this quarter we had the pleasure of releasing 5 of our Epauletted fruit bats. Pre-release we had built a small thatch lapa for them, fruit bats are very partial to roosting in thatch lapas and we were hoping they would take up permanent residence in it. The lapa provides accommodation for our releases as well as a known place that they can find support food at whilst they are adjusting to life in the wild. Whilst they have not taken up permanent residence in the lapa, the fruit bats have come in a couple of times for support food and one of them has roosted in the lapa on two occasions. At this time of year our natural bush is full of wild figs and berries. We are very close to one of the large rivers in the area that’s lined with fig trees (a favourite of the fruit bats), we suspect our bats are spending the majority of their time down there. We wish our Frooties the best of luck for their life in the wild.
The rescue, rehabilitation and release of these bats was made possible by your support.
Thank you to all who support what we do.
![Gimble]()
Gimble
![Vincent]()
Vincent
![Blue Waxbill Nest]()
Blue Waxbill Nest
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Mar 20, 2023
ReWild Patient Stories
By Amy Aucamp-Clark | Campaign Manager
![Sticky Monkey]()
Sticky Monkey
This last quarter has seen many new intakes at the centre due to it being breeding season. Most of the patients that have come in have been orphans who were unable to be reunited with their parents, or injured juviniles that have had accidents as they have been pushed out to start making their way on their own. We wanted to share with you two stories that stuck our over the last few months.
Sticky Monkey
We thought we’d kick off this report with a very cute Lesser bushbaby. He was given him the nickname ‘Sticky Monkey’, bushbabys urinate on their hands making them pretty sticky. This is believed to be part of how they mark their territory but likely also improves grip when leaping through the trees. Bushbabys can cover around 2,5m in a single jump. This little ‘Sticky monkey’ was found on the ground after a storm. Attempts to reunite him with his mom were unsuccessful, no bushbabys came back looking for him. Once he comes of age he will be released back in the wild.
Juliet
Janka and Romeo arrived at their holiday home in the African bush to find two bats in the bathroom basin. Dehydration and starvation had already claimed the life of the one bat but the other was still alive. The surviving bat didn’t look so thin, not because she wasn’t starving but because she was heavily pregnant. Janka called ReWild and we arranged to meet them halfway to us. Janka loves all animals, Romeo on the other hand wasn’t sure he was all that crazy about bats.
Juliet the Free-tailed bat took a long time recovering her body condition and strength, she not only had to recover the lost weight but was trying to do so whilst also feeding a rather large foetus inside her belly. We wanted Juliet to go home before she had her baby, every time we saw her we were relieved to see she was still sporting a huge tummy.
Janka asked us how they could humanely remove the bats from roosting in their roof. We explained to Janka how the bats are persecuted for roof roosting in South Africa. Even if we humanely excluded the bats from her roof after the breeding season was over they may take up residence in a bat house but they also may simply move to another roof where they could very well be fumigated or outright killed. Providing a safe maternity roost is one of the biggest contributions one can make to their conservation. Understanding their plight and importance Janka agreed to become a bat conservationist of the highest order and allow Juliet and the rest of her colony to reside in thir holiday home roof on a permanent basis.
Meanwhile Juliet (still pregnant but looking ready to pop) had regained her strength and was ready to go home. In the interim Janka had completed her holiday and gone home fortunately Romeo was spending a few extra weeks at the holiday home. Romeo was going to get to release Juliet the bat back into the wild. Now remember Romeo wasn’t sure he was all that crazy about bats.So armed with the instructions and the reassurance we had given him Romeo and Juliet were on their own for the release that evening.
A bit later Romeo messaged us “…I was a bit nervous about it but it was amazing … I can’t describe how the feeling feels, it was amazing.” Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of releasing a bat knows that indescribable amazing feeling. Juliet the Free-tailed bat hung out with Romeo for about 20 minutes before flying off, this is quite common as bats like to warm up, do some stretching and get their bearings before flying off. Needless to say Romeo is pretty fond of bats now. A huge thank you to Janka and Romeo for not only rescuing Juliet and getting her to us so swiftly but also providing her and her colony with a safe protected home.
Thank you for your support of our campaign and ensure we could keep the tummy's full of all our patients at ReWild.
![Juliet]()
Juliet
Nov 23, 2022
Many little mouths to feed...
By Amy Aucamp-Clark | Campaign Manager
![Baby Duiker]()
Baby Duiker
Since our last report in July there has been so many hungry little mouths passing through the centre that you would be reading for days if we were to write about each and every one of them, so we have selected just a few of our favourite stories to share with you.
Baby Duiker
A baby duiker was found soon after birth by some construction workers. The place his mother had chosen to give birth is frequented by domestic hunting dogs and the builders felt they couldn’t leave the little duiker there in the bush as the dogs would surely find him, so the brought him to ReWild. The little one was dehydrated and very hungry. After some much needed fluid therapy the baby duiker was soon greedily sucking down milk formula. ReWild typically rehab the smaller wildlife species and don’t really cater for the larger species. So unfortunately the little duiker couldn’t stay for too long and needed to move to a rehabilitation centre more geared for his needs, so the duiker spent a week with ReWild to ensure he was strong enough for the move and then trasported to Umoya Khulula Wildlife Centre where they raise a lot of antelope and have the right facilities for them. We are pleased to say that the baby duiker is thriving and will be able to be released back to the wild when he comes of age.
Angolan free-tailed bat
It was early winter and 'Mike' was only just learning to fly and hunt for himself. He was still dependant on mum for milk but that option was coming to an end. The late season pups often face going independent as winter arrives and insect numbers plummet, the pups born earlier in the season have it far easier. Like it wasn’t tough enough for Mike, he had also picked up a tummy bug and had a very serious case of diarrhoea. Just when it seemed things couldn’t get any more difficult, Mike ended up on the ground. Most bats are unable to get airborne from the ground, they need to take off from height to get flying. Mike was now stuck on the ground. Fortunately for Mike he had grounded on the floor of a hardware store and was found by a caring person. He arrived at ReWild little more than a bag of bones. Emergency fluid therapy got Mike a bit more stable and ready for a drink of milk formula. Antibiotics were needed to resolve Mike’s tummy bug before he could really start feeling better and recovering.
Mike has been spending the winter at ReWild regaining his normal body weight and then some, building up a buffer against possible lean times in the future. He is due to be released soon.
Baby Mouse
Timmy the mouse, was the first baby to arrive at ReWild for this baby season. Timmy was found by a cat and sustained crush injuries resulting in internal bleeding. The cat’s owners rushed Timmy out to the centre but they feared his chances of survival were very slim, but he was a fighter and made it through his first 24 hrs and is getting stronger all the time. Timmy is drinking his milk formula well, toileting normally and sleeping lots allowing his body to heal and grow.
A young Yellow-Billed Hornbill was brought in to the centre after being found on the road. He’d obviously been hit by a car. His right eye was very bruised and swollen and he was showing obvious signs of concussion. After couple of days of anti-inflammatories, pain medication and eye ointment he was feeling a lot better. The bruising and inflammation of his eye is coming down and he’s now able to open his eye a little. Fortunately there appears to be no serious damage to the actual eyeball. He definitely gives the hospital food at ReWild a very high rating, as he has a very impressive appetite.
We expect the little fella will make a full recovery after some more time to rest and heal and enjoy the food.
![Mike, Angolan Free-Tailed Bat]()
Mike, Angolan Free-Tailed Bat
![Baby Mouse]()
Baby Mouse
![Yellow-Billed Hornbill]()
Yellow-Billed Hornbill
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