Driving home from work on Friday, December 14, Jocks Rampersadh was met with a sight he will never forget.
“I was on my way home from an event when I saw a small animal in the road. I slowed down and put my vehicle’s brights on,” says Rampersadh.
It is then that Rampersadh saw the small animal was not a dog, nor a cat. It was a small buck, approximately eight weeks old. “I initially climbed out and tried to get him out the road. But he just calmly turned around and walked a bit ahead and turned around again. I then climbed in my vehicle, looking at the clock. It was just after midnight and this unusual feeling came over me. I drove a bit forward, hoping it would cause him to move out of the road.”
It is then that things took a surreal turn. The small antelope calmly turned around, walking on St Thomas Street, before turning into Lenton Street where Rampersadh lives.
“It walked straight to my driveway, standing in front of my gates. I blew my hooter, but it just stood there. I opened the gates and it walked into my yard. He did not try and run away at all.”
While the small buck became a bit skittish when Rampersadh initially tried to pick it up, it calmed down when Mrs Rampersadh threw a blanket over him. The family took the buck inside for safety.
“A lot went through my mind when I brought him in. Animals can’t talk, if I had chased him out my yard, he could have been picked up and slaughtered. Or dogs could have killed him. It is like he wanted to be saved.”
However, what does one do with a buck in a residential area? How does one care for a wild animal that is still but an infant?
Dr Koos Vorster, an honorary officer of the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Newcastle Branch for more than 14 years, has taken the little buck into his care. “I have been hand-rearing orphaned antelope for 20 years.”
But it is a task that is far from easy.
“Rearing an orphaned antelope is very complex because they have four stomachs. If the milk is not the right temperature, then the valve in the oesophagus does not open to allow the milk into the milk stomach. The milk then flows into the stomach for greenery, where it ferments, and the antelope dies. The size of the antelope also determines the amount of fat in the milk mixture,” he explains.
The little antelope is now in a place of safety, being fed accordingly among others of his kind. Yet, while he now interacts with other antelope, Rampersadh will never forget the night this small animal led him back home. Is it an omen that animals know whom to trust or was it a Christmas miracle?
