Man, hawk, dog tackle PE rats
2007-03-12 16:19
Johannesburg - Raptor activist Arnold Slabbert, his hawk and a fox terrier have declared war on a rat plague in Port Elizabeth's inner city, The Herald Online reported on Monday.
With his African goshawk perched on his falconry glove and his dog Lady on the passenger seat next to him, Slabbert drives his bakkie into town just after dawn each morning.
While most residents are just waking up, they patrol Govan Mbeki Avenue, Rink Street and the roads around the Campanile, keeping a look-out for rodents.
Slabbert, the chairman of the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation group Wildline, says Port Elizabeth's rat problem, in line with a global trend, is bad and getting worse.
But the poisons being used to try to deal with this problem are causing an environmental and human health catastrophe.
Downtown in the early morning, the rats are everywhere, he says.
"We see 60-70 in a few hours of patrolling. When we see one, I open the window and out goes the hawk. Then I open the door and out goes Lady," explains Slabbert.
"If the rat gets down a hole in time, good luck to him. Otherwise, whoever gets there first makes the kill."
Usually, the only witnesses are the tramps, he says.
"It's great entertainment for them. They absolutely love it. They shout and cheer. They can't believe it when a hawk explodes out of a vehicle like that."
In line with his argument on the threat of indirect poisoning for rat predators, Slabbert makes sure that neither of his charges eats their catch.
The rat is whisked away and the hunter is rewarded instead with "a nice juicy bit of pigeon" from his jacket pocket.
"The biggest rat we've caught was 630g. The best sight I saw, was a rat dragging along a packet of slap chips among the commuters on Govan Mbeki. I wanted to applaud."
- SAPA