Giraffe honeymoons after ordeal

2008-02-05 23:04

Bobbi Scheckle

Port Elizabeth - Is it the Loch Ness monster? Or perhaps a whale? No, it appears to be an eight-year-old, 1.5-ton giraffe floating on the Kraggakamma nature reserve dam.

And, it was indeed a long and arduous day for the nature reserve workers who had to move him to a new home because he'd been cruising for trouble with a rhinoceros and other giraffes.

Garnett Cantor, owner of the nature reserve, said on Tuesday that everything eventually went off smoothly for the giraffe, who was moved to a new home in the Nanaga area.

Cantor said: "We had a rough time with this bull. At one stage, I thought we weren't going to make it."

'It's a giraffe thing'

The giraffe, which doesn't have a name yet, was very aggressive, according to Cantor, and he continually fought with young giraffes.

Then, he took on one of the rhinos in the park.

Cantor said: "One of them would have got hurt, and we had to act to stop that. It's a giraffe thing. They get an idea in their head and keep slugging away at it."

But the move wasn't all plain sailing.

After the giraffe had been darted with a tranquilliser, he headed straight for the dam - and promptly disappeared under the water when he fell asleep.

"It was extremely dangerous. With the giraffe's long neck any water that he swallowed would have gone straight to his lungs."

The workers didn't hesitate. They dived into the dam to keep the animal's head above water.

"He was floating on the water like driftwood."

After being taken from the water, the giraffe was blindfolded and the process of loading him aboard the truck began.

Cantor said: "When a giraffe is moved or sold, they're usually very young. The bull's age made it more difficult to move him."

With the aid of Brandon Tindale, a vet from Plettenberg Bay, and Quinton Rochat of the Umfolozi game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, they managed to load the animal after a struggle.

"Then, he fell out of the truck. We thought he'd broken something. Fortunately, he hadn't," said a relieved Cantor.

Six giraffes in new home

Cantor said they had to put a rope around the animal's neck and pull his head down every time they went under a bridge to prevent him from bumping his head.

"I saw him today and he looked very good."

There are six giraffes in his new home and, according to Cantor, they're mostly cows.

"He'll be able to have a decent honeymoon - free of rhinos!" said Cantor with a grin.

- Die Burger