Caracal at Driehoek for the Cape Leopard Trust

It’s been 3 months since Jurg last went to Driehoek volunteering to monitor traps for the Cape Leopard Trust. This time, the signal went off near Quinton’s base at Matjiesriver. 

Jurg with sedated caracal
Photo by Dawie Burger of Driehoek

The team met at the walk thru trap for caracal. Jurg wanted to take a picture of the caracal IN the trap – but Dr. Quinton Martins was adamant. ‘We have to get the caracal out of the cage, before he hurts himself!’ First the welfare of the caracal.
Then the scientific research. Then, the photo ops. (Hence the quality of some of our photos today).

Walk thru trap
Transport crate in CLT bakkie

This was a simple walk thru trap, set up on the path, no bait. The caracal is transferred to a transport crate. Thanks to the vet the animal is sedated. Gathered into a net to weigh him – 13.8 KG.

Caracal still in the old collar

Beautiful animals, caracals have distinctive tufted ears! Altho Klonkies is an older male. Battle-scarred by buck who evaded his slowing reflexes and fading strength.

Your man will not come home empty handed...we caught MC3 (“Klonkies”) this morning and re-collared him with a GPS collar. He is a rather old cat – caught for the first time in June 2010. He was in poor condition then and I am surprised he is still alive. This time he had a few nasty wounds likely from a hunting incident a few weeks ago – (Quinton’s email to me)

The decision of the vet Dr Marc Walton was not to stitch the wound, but to treat it and leave it open.

Caracal teeth and claws

Still an issue with the cages, a couple of claws were damaged. However, the new cages being tested are showing good success in this department. Another identifying feature of Klonkies was a chip off one of his canines – again war wounds from the ‘berg - Quinton.

His collar was due for replacement, so we took the opportunity to replace it with a modern GPS collar.  Funded from donations. If you live in South Africa, shop at Woolworths and have a MyPlanet loyalty card, you can choose the Cape Leopard Trust as one of your 3 beneficiaries.

We hope we can get another 3-6 months data from this old guy. It’s amazing – years back these caracal would have been killed by farmers in the Cederberg Conservancy, now they are left alone to do their own thing unhindered and not persecuted. Rocky, the other male has been monitored for almost 4 years now - Quinton

The discarded old, and the fitted new collars
Jurg with 'his' caracal

Driehoek is 2 hours driving, at 950m (800m higher than our home in Porterville). Early winter mornings meant that the tank of water for camping in the Land Rover was frozen solid. With a centimetre thick layer of ice on the puddles and streams. Frost hazing the landscape.

Ice at Driehoek

Heavy rain on Saturday meant the rivers ran deeper. Hurrying to the occupied trap, Jurg simply drove thru. Water coming in at the bottom of the doors. But remaining safely below the air intake of the engine. Or he would have been stuck in the middle of nowhere. Cold and walking …

Driving for nature conservation

The river flows past the camp site, bordered by Cape restios – and now with the winter bonus of snowy mountains beyond.

Restios along the river at Driehoek, snow on the Middelberg

On Driehoek farm there are 4 white horses, and a black pig who is besties with just the one horse. The two are always together. An armoured beetle hitched a lift on the caracal cage.

Armoured beetle, black pig and white horse at Driehoek

On the right beneath the trees is the Driehoek campsite.

Driehoek campsite to the right, with snow-capped Middelberg

The CLT story continues with the elusive Cape mountain leopard Spot in December.

Pictures by Jurg, and Dawie Burger of Driehoek

words by Diana of  Elephant's Eye

- wildlife gardening in Porterville, 
near Cape Town in South Africa

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