A tale of two hyenas and the conservation heroes who stepped in with hope…
Limpopo, South Africa (01 December 2025) – Two calls came in at the Phalaborwa Natural Heritage Foundation (PNHF) last week. Both were about male spotted hyenas from the same clan near Phalaborwa.
The first call was for a hyena dragging its back legs. The team searched all day and eventually found him after 22:00 with the help of a thermal drone.
He had a wire snare around his neck and multiple bite marks on his neck and back. His back legs were paralysed, likely due to an infection from the snare.
“The bite on his neck was swollen and possibly irritated further by the snare, this likely caused an infection that affected his spine, causing hind limb paralysis. Due to his back legs not working, the hyena started to chew on his own feet. Pieces of bone were falling out of his feet. Even if we could reverse the paralysis through veterinary intervention, his back feet were no longer viable. We made the difficult decision to euthanise the male spotted hyena.” shared the PNHF.
It was a difficult day. It was the very first time PNHF had to euthanise a hyena in their many years of working with the species.
Days later, the phone rang again. Another spotted hyena, from the same clan, was again caught in a snare. This one was found in a comatose state and believed to have ingested poison.
“The vet gave him fluids and medicine through multiple drips and placed ice packs between his feet. We poured water over him every 15 minutes due to the high temperatures we experienced. In total we poured almost 60 litres of water of him to keep him cool.” the foundation shared.
The team started cooling him down any way they could. Nothing changed for hours, but he was breathing steadily.
Finally, after hours of hope, the hyena slowly started shifting around again.
“We continued monitoring and in the late afternoon he showed signs of reflexes returning. Blinking, ears moving a little bit, swallowing. After a long day of watching the hyena, he finally stood up in the cage at about 23:00 that night.”
By 1 AM the following morning, he was stable enough to be released back into the wild.
“He recovered enough that the vet was happy to release him at around 01:00 the next morning. We were all exhausted, but extremely happy and relieved.” shared the foundation.
Two hyenas from the same clan faced two different outcomes. Both were a result of poaching.
The first told a painful story about the loss that illegal wildlife activity thrives on.
The second, a story about hope and protection. Thanks to the PNHF heroes and volunteers, over 700,00 kilometres of wildlife habitat has been patrolled this year alone, along with 2,208 snares removed and 24 animals rescued.
Their work doesn’t stop the cruelty entirely, but it does stop countless animals from suffering the same fate as the first hyena. And in cases like the second hyena, where wildlife wins the fight, it reminds us why the effort is always worth it.
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