This is the adorable story of welcoming two unexpected baby dassies at a Wildlife Orphanage in Hoedspruit.
Hoedspruit, South Africa (30 January 2021) – Ian and Michèle Merrifield officially opened DAKTARI Bush School & Wildlife Orphanage in 2006. But it was a long road to make that happen!
They met while Ian was working as a game ranger at Tshukudu Game Lodge, and Michèle was volunteering there. While hand-raising injured zebras, wildebeest, and warthogs, Ian and Michèle fell in love.
Michèle had long dreamed about living in Africa and taking care of the wildlife. When she met Ian, she was able to realise that dream. They left Tshukudu after getting married and opened a restaurant in Hoedspruit to start raising capital for their own wildlife orphanage. While there, Ian and Michèle helped raise a local boy named Thabo. He had almost no knowledge or understanding of his native wildlife and the environment. Therefore, Ian and Michèle began using the animals in their care to teach him. Thabo’s understanding of conservation was typical of children in Limpopo, and the idea of adding a bush school was born.
And this Bush School & Wildlife Orphanage is where many animals get a second chance in life.
Little Boy found a home at DAKTARI but until recently they thought the little Dassie was male. Little did they know, that the little boy was actually a little girl.
“Saturday afternoon, as I was in the Lapa of Daktari Bush School & Wildlife Orphanage, I heard Nikita our (Rottweiler) dog crying of fear, I immediately thought she got bitten by a snake.
I ran and found Nikita’s tail between the legs and head down. As I was searching for the snake, I heard one of our dassies grunting in the smoking area. I went to have a look, but Nikita stayed far away. As I looked under the sofa, I found our dassie “Little Boy” with babies running around.
The afterbirth things were still there, and I could only asses that little boy was in fact “Little Girl”.”
Genital organs of dassies are internal like elephants, so you never know who is who.
“It’s clear that Little boy attacked Nikita to protect her babies. The mother let me immediately give my welcoming kiss to the babies, and I took them to her safe camp where she is now happily looking after her family.”
This is Little Boys first litter, and she didn’t really know what to do with them. The babies were starving, so I helped and gave them a little bit of food (The one dassies usually like) after that they started teating immediately. Little Boy is now breastfeeding them, and this is an awesome success.
We are now still waiting for Càline (The other dassie) to give birth as we always thought She was a girl. She is big, but who knows? Maybe she is just a fat male Dassie.”
by 