Farmer suspects poisoning is reason for deaths

Date: 20 October 2017 By: Andries van Zyl

Mr Peter Ferreira (74) of the farm Mampakuil (Portion 11 at Kennington Lodge) outside Louis is in great despair.

He has realised that someone has been poisoning his livestock and the wildlife on his farm over the last two days. On Thursday afternoon, he found four of his goats lying dead along one of his farm roads. “I initially suspected 'hartwater', but having four go down simultaneously is unusual,” said Peter.

Early Friday morning, while doing his rounds on the farm and checking his game fences, he was shocked to find numerous guinea fowl lying in the road. He immediately stopped and saw that eight were already dead. He also spotted another guinea fowl close by that was unable to fly. Peter caught it and, while on his way to the state veterinarian, stopped at the offices of the Zoutpansberger. “I suspect poisoning. I am on my way to the state vet to see if they can treat the surviving guinea fowl, as well as to try and determine what caused the other eight’s death. The goats I have already burnt,” said Peter.

Peter said it was the first time that something like this had happened on his farm. “I found out that a farmer in the Levubu area recently suffered a similar occurrence, with people throwing out poisoned mielies. They then return to pick up the dead animals to eat them,” said Peter.

Peter said farmers needed to be aware of what was happening. “These people can wipe out all your game,” said Peter. He added that they had also recently shot six hunting dogs left on his farm by poachers. “I continually experience problems with poachers hunting with dogs on my farm. The other day, hunting dogs chased a Waterbuck bull into the bar area at Kennington Lodge. We shot one of the dogs right there in the garden. Most of these illegal hunts take place during the full moon,” said Peter.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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