Game capturing, harvesting of fauna

Dear readers.

This is a report on the game capturing we did earlier this year on Sondela nature reserve.

Game capturing

Game capturing is also known as harvesting of fauna (animals) and in this case we forced the animals into a small space to catch them in a truck trailer. Firstly you need to check the equipment used for culling and harvesting. Culling is known as lessening the amount of an animal due to over population. The correct equipment must be used for these activities, they must be clean and in working order, these are things like fish nets, cages, fire arms, ropes, boma plastics etc.

When checking the equipment it is important to check for wear and tear and if maintenance is needed it must be implemented as soon as it has been found. Maintenance is carried out to ensure trouble free service when it comes to using the equipment.

Once the equipment is safe and usable the correct harvesting methods must be implemented. The appropriate method must be chosen according to the type of harvest. In our case we harvested zebra, orryx gizelle, blue wilde beast, impala and blesbok. We had set up a boma shaped in a Y form to force the antilope up onto the trailer. All activities must be done according to the legal standards and quality assurance requirements.

All our actions were monitored by the manager of the wildlife centre and he has done this method of harvest a lot of times so he knew what to warn us about, what to do to better his last attempt and what to avoid because it did not work the previous time.

All specimens captured were checked for diseases, injuries and safeguarded the dangerous species so they will not hurt the others. We attached plastic pipe to the blesbok horn so they would not hurt the others when under stress. All the specimens must be kept record of so you know how many are left on the farm for capturing and how many babies you can expect for the next breeding season.

Data such as date captured, weight, size, and gender must be recorded so they are not totally culled, there are a generous amount of them to breed and keep the species intact. Also where they were captured must be recorded so when you need to find them again you can go back to the record of them and follow up.

Lastly a report of the harvest is needed by the person in charge so that they have it in writing for future reference. Things like, what went wrong, what went well, what to change in the next attempt and which requirements need to be upholded. Reference must be made to any bag limits where relevant in terms of the amount landed, weight and numbers.

After the capturing we cleaned up and packed away all the equipment for future use. The antelope were transported to the destination required.