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| CARE FOR ANIMALS AT A WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTRE IN KWAZULU-NATAL |
SOUTH AFRICA |
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The best cage is an empty cage!
You'll work with over 400 different animals and
birds, and lots of monkeys! This excellent project is based in a
beautiful Rehabilitation Centre in KwaZulu-Natal. Much of your work on this project usually involves hands-on caring and nursing of injured or baby animals, for example bottle-feeding them or cleaning wounds. You'll mother it and care for it until it is recovered or old enough. Then you'll teach it to survive on its own so that it can be released back into the wild! An infinitely satisfying and very, very worthwhile project!!
WORK
CONTENT: There are times of the year when your work could be hands-on and other times when you may not get hands-on contact with the animals. Working with the different types of animals varies throughout the year ... as with any Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Centre, no-one can predict when or if certain types of animals have been rescued and are in their care. There are approximately 300 - 400 animals under the Centre's care at any given time, all of which are wildlife indigenous to KwaZulu Natal (called KZN for short). Animals range from birds and mammals to raptors and reptiles, and many many monkeys. They also have a very busy Educational Program, so if education 'is your thing', you will be able to assist with school tours and edutainment events at the education centre. Whenever possible, animals who can survive in their natural habitat are released. This is a particularly satisfying time! See photos and write-ups of a recent vervet monkey release, a mongoose release and a pelican release - events enjoyed by everyone at the Centre! Also see photos of a recent gosling release
BABY ANIMAL SEASON The babies need to be fed frequently and, as with a human baby, all feeds are essential to ensure that these “children” are safe and don’t go hungry. There may be times when we have more volunteers than babies, and in such situations please abide by the decision of your supervisor at the centre as to who gets to "mother" the baby, or whether one baby can have two volunteer "mothers". If you are not chosen to mother a baby, please accept it gracefully. In situations like this where we work with orphaned animals, we have to deal with the demand nature throws at us, which neither Travellers nor the centre can control. What we can say is that you will have some hands-on care of wild animals that need to be rehabilitated, and your efforts will be of direct benefit to the animals.
Baby Monkeys in Specific – Special needs These baby monkeys require 24 hour care, regular feeding and cleaning, Due to recent KZN Wildlife legislation only volunteers who are on the placement for 8 weeks or longer from the day the baby arrives may be asked to become foster mothers. The babies need to be carried against the chest as the mother would have done. It is vital that these monkeys get the sense of security and care from their foster moms in order to be able to integrate and socialize within a troop structure when they are older. You may be asked to assist with the care of vulnerable baby monkeys but there are many other young animals that also need tender nurturing where your help will be necessary.
"Adjacent a nursery enclosure teems
with baby vervet monkeys, wide-eyed, chattering and clinging to one another
for comfort. They are all orphans. When they are first brought to here,
volunteers have to act as their surrogate mothers, 24 hours a day, until
they are old enough to go to “creche” and eventually into a troop structure. Got any questions? Please email us: info@travellersworldwide.com
Autumn and Winter Months
THE REWARDS OF DOING THIS PROJECT:
To give you a feel of the fulfilment that you can get from the project, here's an excerpt from Mabel, our Volunteer Liaison at the Project, from her report about what the volunteers have been doing recently: "Everyone is sad to see Helen leave. She really did an outstanding job here and was loved by all. Olivia went with Dr Fitchat to set up the cage for the monkey release on the 7th January at Pakamisa Private Game farm. She work very hard in the sun all day and never once complained about the heat. Early on Monday morning all the clinic staff, assisted by the volunteers, caught and packed the monkeys to be transported to Pongola. It was very wet but all the volunteers did what they could to help make this go fast. Rebecca went with
Estie and Medi to Pongola to release the monkeys. They stayed on the farm for 2
nights and the monkeys were released on the Wednesday morning very early. Olivia
and Rebecca had a wonderful time seeing the monkeys run for freedom. When they
returned, they couldn't stop talking about what they had seen and how happy they
were to see the little ones free and not in a cage. The Rehabilitation Centre itself is a lovely and a very safe environment. This is truly a wonderful project that is both rewarding and unforgettable. Got any questions? Please email us: info@travellersworldwide.com WHAT YOU'LL GAIN FROM DOING THIS PROJECT:
Hi Kate, We had a great first day. I fed lots of babies. Tyler wants to feed the babies too. Mabel has a baby vervet (sp?). Sooo cute. I was surprised at how tropical it is. I was expecting bush type landscape. Very beautiful and wonderful weather. The people at Centre are awesome, really nice. The other volunteers are fun. Lynn. See Lynn and Tyler’s photos from their placement NEWS! This project has been featured in 3 episodes of Wildlife SOS on Animal Planet. As one of our volunteers said, "Thank you to all of you for the wonderful work you do and for your dedication – you make such a difference. The story of Shumba and Savannah had me in tears – I have never managed to understand the hunting industry in general, but this canned business is disgusting! And we humans are meant to be civilised – yeah right! But how wonderful the cubs look now though! Hopefully, through Animal Planet, many more will now know of your organisation and here’s also hoping, many more will assist you with your excellent work!" |
Latest Photos on a Day in the Life of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre! Read our What's Happening at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre Diary
NEWS! Wildlife Rehabilitation
Centre helps Abused Monkey.
Click here to read
the story of how the Centre really does make a difference to
animals... |
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| LOCATION AND SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE REGION | |
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Location:
Yellowwood Park, Durban, South Africa The Rehabilitation Centre was established 26 years ago and is located on the east coast of South Africa, in the KwaZulu-Natal Province in a suburb of Durban, called Yellowwood Park. (between The Bluff and Queensburg on the map.) The centre lies close to a small protected reserve of 253 hectares, called Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve. The reserve offers coastal forest and grassland habitats and includes species such as zebra, bushbuck, reedbuck, impala, blue, red and grey duiker, vervet monkeys, rock hyrax, slender mongoose, bushbaby, Egyptian mongoose, banded mongoose, water monitor and genet. The reserve also has an interesting variety of indigenous flora and over 200 bird species on record. There are 13 km of nature walks and a pleasant picnic site. Because of the proximity to the reserve and the fact that food is always available at the Centre, you will see an abundance of birdlife scavenging food from the enclosures at the Centre. Wild Monkeys are also regular visitors. The Bluff is a gigantic headland that forms the southeastern 'arm' of Durban Harbour and enjoys a string of safe and protected beaches. Brighton Beach, Cave Rock Beach, Anstey's Beach and Garvies Beach are all highly popular, with interesting walks through coastal bush that end almost at the water's edge. Mission Statement Animals that are currently being
rehabilitated are placed in enclosures far away from public activity. As
far as possible, animal enclosures are created that are similar to their
natural environment to give them a "feel" of what their world is like.
Orphaned antelope are often only released in Nature Reserves, where there
are no predators, as they don't know what a predator is. These animals are
tended to by staff and volunteers whose love, care and dedication is
unconditional, around the clock. “A small reebok that had been raised as a pet and grown up with dogs, paddles through a pond and comes to stare at you through the fence….it is being rehabilitated: taught not to think like a canine, so that it can be returned to it natural habitat in the Drakensberg. Nearby a group of baboons are getting up to monkey business, each of the individuals have carefully been identified and chosen to fit into and play a role in this “unnatural” troop. They will be weaned from a “fast food” diet to a natural one and dehumanised – once they are ready, they too will be released into the wild." |
Read some fascinating information about Vervet Monkeys with more photos. Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre Photo Gallery
Got any questions? Please email us: |
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We have 2 types of
accommodation: We have a fully furnished volunteer house that accommodates up to 10
volunteers at a time. There are four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Volunteers
share rooms. The house is within the security of the sanctuary and
surrounded by an electric fence. To read about the excellent Support & Backup we provide before you leave and during your programme, please click here.
TRAVEL:
Support & Backup:
To read about the excellent Support
& Backup we provide before you leave and during
your programme,
please click here. |
| SOUTH AFRICA ON THE INTERNET: | |
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Volunteer feeding injured Owl |
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WILDLIFE REHABILITATION AND ANIMAL
CARE IN KWAZULU-NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA: The best cage is an empty cage! You'll work with over 400 different animals and birds, and lots of monkeys! This excellent project is based in a beautiful Rehabilitation Centre in KwaZulu-Natal. Much of your work on this project usually involves hands-on caring and nursing of injured or baby animals, for example bottle-feeding them or cleaning wounds. Read more... |
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AD WILDLIFE SANCTUARY IN SOUTH
AFRICA: This project is a very caring sanctuary set in a small private game reserve in the Eastern Cape. It is a very popular and worthwhile placement where your work and help is desperately needed. You'll assist in hand-rearing, feeding and generally looking after many different animal species, including about 150 different species of birds, most of which you will never have seen before. Read more... |
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Suite 2A, Caravelle House, 17/19 Goring Road,
Worthing, |
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