ZURI Orphanage was started in 2014 by Dr. Erika de Jager, a veterinarian in the small town of Tsumeb in the far north of Namibia. At first was Pippie, a domestic cat who suffered severe burn wounds and was treated by Dr. de Jager for almost two years. After Pippie came many animals like baby owls, injured eagles, hedgehogs and even a leguane.
Because of Dr de Jager’s work as a veterinarian her clients bring her most of the orphans. One of ZURI Orphanage’s highlights was when Hermanus, a baby porcupine, was brought to the practice in October 2014. He was found on his dead mother. The ZURI team was successful in raising him and he has since grown his family to six porcupines.
Other animals that have passed through our orphanage were a genet, Bonny the banded mongoose, a warthog, Batman the bat, and Edger the giant eagle owl. Many of them stayed for months at a time and were all released back into the wild. In September 2015, ET, the aardvark, joined us. ET was raised and released back into the wild after a couple of months. ET has since become world famous.
Batman
On the 22nd of February 2016 a tiny baby bat was brought to the veterinary clinic in Tsumeb. He was found in Otavi, a nearby town about 60 km away from Tsumeb. The people who found him drove all the way to Tsumeb to bring him to the clinic.
The challenge was to feed him as he was very small. We tried feeding him with a 1 ml syringe but it was too big. We then changed to a dropper from one of our veterinary test kits and it worked. We named him Batman and he got stronger as he drank drop for drop of milk. We could see the milk in his stomach and knew when he had enough.
Batman travelled in a shoebox for about two months from the farm to the practice every day. He became quite a celebrity when many people in the practice came to see him. Batman became quite tame. Because we have access to the animals on a daily basis we try and establish if there is an animal human bond. Even with this tiny bat there was a bond with Batman.
At the beginning of May we opened the box one day to feed him and Batman flew away. Even though he was only in our lives for a very short period of time, he enriched our lives by teaching us how to feed a baby bat, and to know that there can be human – animal interaction even with a bat.
ET
ET was brought to ZURI Orphanage in September 2015 by one of Erika‘s veterinary clients. He was picked up by a lorry driver about 600 km away from Tsumeb when the driver checked the tyres of the lorry in the morning. He found a little baby aardvark behind one of the tyres and if he did not check and walk around the truck, he would have driven over ET.
For everyone at ZURI it was love at first sight. It was the very first time that most people in Tsumeb had seen a baby aardvark and ET quickly became a celebrity. The team at ZURI named the little aardvark ET as he closely resembled the little character of ET in the famous movie. During his first months he travelled to the veterinary practice every day and in the evenings back to ZURI farm.
ET went for walks with the dogs on a daily basis and quickly became adapted to life with dogs and cats on the farm. During the rugby world cup he was featured in many publications when he was photographed during a Springboks game with a South African flag painted on his back with face paint.
As ET became older and heavier he moved into the bottom of the kitchen cupboard which resembled an “aardvark cave” to him. He lived there for a couple of months. During this time the ZURI team took him to an old aardvark hole where he could spend a couple of hours digging every day and get fit.
When the time came he spent his first night on his own in the hole. We put cameras up to monitor him and the next morning we went and fetched him for breakfast. This was the start of the next phase of releasing him back into the wild. Each morning we would track him and each afternoon we would track him with some food to make sure he was safe.
One evening ET came home. This was a big surprise. What was even a bigger surprise was that he has been coming home for most evenings since. Every time he appears on the porch the magic start, and every time he leaves my home for his home I am a little sad, but proud of him.
ET has become world famous having been in many publications and in video’s. He has certainly been an ambassador for the aardvark species and helped to make many people aware of aardvarks. He has shared with us the aardvark ways and hopefully he will continue to help us understand this very shy specie.
Hermanus
On October 12, 2014, a baby porcupine was brought to Tsumeb Veterinary Clinic. He was found on his dead mother about 20 km from Tsumeb on a farm. It was once again love at first sight but no one really knew how to raise a porcupine so it was by trial and error that Hermanus’s story can be told. He was difficult to hold as his little quills was very sharp and he already had the instinct of reversing into his prey when he felt threatened. His first home was a budgie cage and we gave him milk in a hamster bottle, which he started to drink immediately.
In November we moved Hermanus to ZURI and he lived in a chicken coop. At first he lived on the porch and the dogs was really intrigued by him. As soon as the chicken coop was open they ran in only to come out with some quills in their faces. We moved Hermanus in December into the veldt about 500 m from the house so that he could be closer to nature. Every time we moved him it was quite a challenge as his quills were getting sharper and longer.
On the 3rd of February 2015 we released Hermanus close to the waterhole on ZURI. It was a sad day as we were both proud and excited for him but also worried for him. Big was our surprise when about 4 days later we saw a tiny little black nose under one of the containers on ZURI. We immediately gave him some carrots and maise and this is the moment that Hermanus became part of the ZURI household.
During the next couple of months Hermanus made an appearance most evenings when he came back to the house for some dog food. He especially loves dog food and even prefer it over carrots and maise. During this time he became very tame and the dogs and cats accepted him as part of the ZURI household. Many visitors to ZURI had the privilege to see a porcupine up close and to experience their behavior.
In March 2016 we had a magic moment when Hermanus brought home his family. One evening there were three porcupines, two bigger ones and one young one. This was the very first time that we realized Hermanus was completely adapted and has gone on to breed successfully. There was a bigger surprise waiting for us in July 2016 when we noticed that one of the porcupines was hiding two very small babies under her quills. In total there were six porcupines coming to visit most evenings.
During the latter half of 2016 we watched the babies grow bigger. From October 2016 until April 2017 ZURI had a rainfall of a 1000 mm. This was much more than the yearly average of 500 mm. During this time we noticed that the porcupines did not come so often anymore. We think this is due to the fact that there is a lot more food in the veldt than other years. There is a smaller porcupine and a larger porcupine still coming most evenings to visit us. They sometimes come at 9 pm and other times during the night. The sound of a porcupine eating one dog kibble at a time is one of the best sounds to listen to.
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