It is not every day that a caracal, or rooikat, is found in someone’s kitchen, in a residential neighbourhood, never mind a quiet area such as Kenridge.
But that is exactly what a resident in Suikerbossie Street found last Thursday (21 September) on top of her kitchen cupboard.
He called the SPCA and trainee wildlife inspector Rico Pentz was dispatched to solve the case.
“It was a real challenge for our inspector who had to employ the use of a bird net and some ingenuity coupled with a lot of experience in handling wild animals,” says Belinda Abraham, SPCA spokesperson.
The caracal was released into the Tygerberg Nature Reserve the next day.
“It’s becoming more and more common as urban sprawl impacts on the natural habitats of many of our wild animals, not just the caracal.
“Leopard, mongoose, a Cape otter and several species of snakes, as well as bats and birds of prey, have been removed by the SPCA from residential properties, Abraham says. The leopard was caught in June in Gordon’s Bay.
“These are just some of the animals our Wildlife Unit has rescued this year from within our 11 000 km² area of operation – which includes the Cape metropole and surrounding areas such as Somerset West, Stellenbosch and Malmesbury,” she says.
“We had a really interesting incident in May in Melkbosstrand where a night-time visitor was raiding an outside fridge, much to the dismay of the house’s occupants.
“It turned out to be a honey badger, which we captured and released far from the temptation of easy pickings,” she says.
