Hyena Diaries Part two

A month had passed since the release of Roxy, a young female brown hyena caught on a neighbouring farm. By all evidence of tracks and scat found she was doing well and had adapted to her new home. Which was a good sign telling us not only our fences were in good enough condition to keep her inside but that the living conditions were ideal and good enough for her to make a fast transition to her new surroundings. A good sign for any future release attempts. And it wasn't long before we had the chance for just that.

My friend called again and said another hyena had been captured on the same farm as previously, again the owner did not want to shoot or destroy the animal and we were asked if we could take on another one. Again I instantly agreed and began to plan where we would release the new hyena. We would not be able to release it in the same area as the previous one as there are now 2 known resident hyenas in the Trekpad camp, and with an area of only around 400Ha it would be too small to attempt to successfully introduce another member.

I opted for the second and around 2300Ha area of land we have on the other side of the R523, also a beautiful area with plenty of shrub and desert like areas in which the hyena would almost certainly find a great place to den in no time. 

I jumped on an available ATV and rushed through to the service gate across the road, waiting to hail the drop off vehicle and release time in. I saw them coming over the hill and opened the gate, ensuring no time is wasted to get the animal into the field and released. Once we were all in I drove ahead and lead the convoy into the old plantations which were surrounded by great brush and sandy hills for the hyena to explore. This area is also full of small and relatively easily hunted animals, as well as carrion and bone from the old vulture restaurant we used to run in that area.

Once we reached the drop off location I again signalled for the truck to turn with the back toward the shrubbery, as the hyena would instinctively run towards cover as soon as the gate is opened and we would then be able to all remain safely behind its path on or in the truck.

I managed to get a good look at the hyena before the release, clearly able to see the injuries it sustained from attempts to escape the cage. The skin on the upper part of the muzzle had been scraped of and it was bleeding in the mouth from attempts at biting through the iron bars of the cage. This animal was also clearly more distressed than the previous one as we were unable to cover the cage with tarp during transit which would have kept it a little more calm. The cage was also significantly larger than the back of the truck that was available for the move. This created the problem that the animals legs could fall through the bars at the end of the cage and it could break its legs. Brooms and other items were used to create temporary bars to keep the animal in the back section of the cage until we could release it.

Before the release we needed to place metal sheets inside the cage in order for the animal to have something to step one when exiting the cage for the same reason mentioned above. He was not happy with our attempts to keep him back while my friend put the sheets in, the cage door slightly lifted. He paced in small circles at the rear end of the cage, growling at us, getting more and more irate as the seconds passed.

Finally everything was in place and we could open the cage door. We all moved to the front of the truck and ensured we were well out of reach should the animal turn around and decide not to run to cover.

The door was raised. He bolted out the door and ran straight for cover as we had hoped.

Another successful release.

He wandered around the edge of the shrub area, taking in the new scents. We watched him for about 5 minutes and decided he was content in the new surroundings and would wonder freely until he finds a new place to den. We decided to call him Jan.

For more information on this hyena and research about him please follow this blog and keep up with the hyena diaries.

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