With pics

Happy ending for abandoned baby mongoose

It was a happy ending for 10 mongoose babies aged approximately three weeks old, that were found abandoned by the Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) in Yellowwood Park recently.
According to the centre, Steve Smit of the Monkey Helpline rescued the babies recently from a drainpipe in Shaka's Rock.

However, CROW Executive Director, Samantha Terblanche, explained how the ten babies bonded with an adult female that was hand reared at the centre last year. "Their new family also comprises of two other orphaned babies, aged between five and six weeks, that were admitted on their own."
Terblanche said the new family would be monitored and released back into the wild as soon as the babies were sub adults and capable of defending themselves.

According to Terblanche, although the centre regularly rescued and received orphaned mongoose in one's or two's, ten was really unusual. "Mongoose are social animals that live in troops of up to 30," she said.
"Having this family structure around them is an important part of their lives. A whole troop will attack a predator such as a large snake. It gives them security and they also leave their babies in a nursery together."
Terblanche said it was unknown why the troop left behind the ten babies. "The babies are not all siblings but probably the babies of three to five females," she said. "Something must have disturbed the troop very badly for them to have left the defenseless babies alone and not come back for them," she added.
Terblanche said the adult members of the troop might have been poisoned or chased off by the development happening in the area. "The rescue team waited for five hours and no adults returned to them and the decision was made to bring them to CROW," said Terblanche.

The babies are extremely wild and camera shy. Terblanche explained that only one staff member of CROW worked with them to ensure that they stayed as wild as possible. Clinic Manager, Estie Allan, explained that this made it so much easier for the babies to be released. "The less humanised they are the better their chances of survival," she said. Allan added that it was also not a good idea to try and hand raise baby mongoose on their own. "People often do this thinking they will make good pets. Then when they reach sexual maturity they start marking their territory and become aggressive in an attempt to act out group behaviour in their human family," she said. "This is when many people started to bring mongoose in to CROW, expecting that they could just be released," said Allan.

"Mongoose need to be a part of a troop structure to survive," she added. "A lone mongoose released into the wild will be killed by any wild troops. Once they are adults it is also extremely difficult to bond into a troop such as the ones created by CROW and they are often rejected," she said. Allan said the best thing a person could do for any wild baby animal is to get it to a rehab facility as soon as possible.

CROW and the Monkey Helpline are both funded by donations. CROW rescues, rehabilitates and releases between 3000 to 5000 injured, orphaned and displaced wild animals every year and is open for admissions seven days a week from 7am to 8pm.