While we have been enjoying our jackal pups, they are not everyone's favourite creature. A concerned farmer asked that they not be released anywhere near his property as they kill calves in a very unpleasant way. This is a very legitimate request and our answer is below for all those farming types who are concerned about our decision to rehabilitate them:-
As a rule we do not rehabilitate jackals at all, because of the problem of finding a suitable release site. At the moment though we have had a request from a new reserve up near Phinda in Northern Zululand. They were previously surrounded by squatter camps and their jackal population was wiped out by distemper picked up from the local dogs. They are finding it very difficult to balance their reserve without jackals and the distemper virus stays in the soil for up to four years. Because we can inoculate for distemper with a 100% success rate, our jackals will be able to survive, breed and build up a viable population. All our releases are approved by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and they would certainly never approve jackal releases in a farming area. Similarly, we have to be very careful about mongoose, genet, serval and all other predator sites. We will occasionally release antelope or birds in this area, but nothing else. We do not release into Umgeni because of the poaching problem.
News article submitted by FreeMe Wildlife Rehabilitation KZN.