The Johannesburg Zoo has sold off 10 buffalos for R550 000 to a private game farmer to reduce excess population on its farm in Parys in the Free State.
The sale took place through an online auction in which different wildlife enthusiasts submitted bids for the animals. The bovines were eventually bought by a private game farmer from KwaZulu-Natal.
Bishop Ngobeli, a Conservation Manager for Protected Areas at City Parks and Zoo, said animals are assets, but when they’re too many they become difficult to manage.
“We’ve opted to auction off these buffalos to control their population on the farm. We had excess stock and needed to reduce it,” Ngobeli said, adding that culling the herd was not an option. Proceeds of the sale will be ploughed back into the farm.
A veterinarian was brought from the Johannesburg Zoo in Parkview to help dart the giant animals with schedule six medicine, which he administered through a state-of-the-art dart gun.
The veterinarian used a pickup truck to corner the large group of animals out of a herd. They were then darted in the large muscle groups on the rear. Once darted, the ground team of about 17 men moved in and secured the animals. Their heads were held in an elevated position before being blindfolded over the eyes and ears to protect them from damage due to sunlight, dust and trauma.
The cardiovascular and respiratory functions of the buffalos were assessed to ensure that their body temperature did not exceed 41 degrees Celsius. Only a few buffalos experienced a higher than usual body temperature and were doused with water.
They were then loaded into a truck and ferried to their new home in KZN. The movement of wildlife ensures breeding programmes continue and allows game to thrive in new reserves.
Given Phaswane, an Animal Keeper at the Zoo Farm, concedes that game capturing is a labour-intensive task, with lots of risks. “Hence we always take precautions to ensure the full safety of all our animals,” he said.
Ngobeli noted that despite challenges in the field of wildlife, he’d assumed the full responsibility of ensuring game capturing avoids all sorts of onslaughts. “There are many factors that can go wrong during game capture, that’s why it is important to take precautions,” he said.
He added that game capture was necessary to preserve animal species and maintain high population numbers across different game reserves.
The buffalos were retained in a separate enclosure a week before being translocated to allow them time to settle and avoid the group fragmenting.
“It is important to keep stress to the animal minimal,” said Phaswane.
Despite being sold off, the Buffalos keep their microchips, which serve as identity cards. The animals also had to undergo veterinary checks before being auctioned off to ensure they are in good health.
