Fish Eagle Wildlife Services specializes in game capturing and counting. We have a fully functional veterinary clinic and training facility for students. Fish Eagle Wildlife Services are headquartered on a 900 hectare farm situated in Swartwater Limpopo South Africa. The game farm is built as a training facility in mind and thus is equipped with lodging for students that is studying veterinary sciences specializing in large animals. Training is done by lecturers in the facilities on the farm which includes a functional clinic, rehabilitation camps for injured animals, breading programs and camps for endangered species and a post mortem examination theatre. Fish Eagle Wildlife Services offer darting, game capturing, moving, selling and auctions as services to the wildlife industry with skilled and trained staff.
Game capture requires both practical and scientific skills, experience and the right equipment. For these reasons, most wildlife managers make use of professional game capture teams for this purpose. Successful game capture does not only include the capture of the animals, but also the effective handling, transport and care in captivity.
Our Helicopter flies over a herd of animals selected for capture, then uses a horn and flight manoeuvres to direct the animals towards the capture boma. As the animals enter the boma they pass through different sections created by canvas. Each section closes behind the animals like a curtain and becomes narrower and smaller as the animals approach the trailer into which they will finally be loaded.
We also do chemical captures (darting) where a veterinarian uses drugs like M99 and A30-80 to immobilize animals that are then loaded onto game transport trucks. The drugs are administered into a dart which is fired by special gun, a dart gun, from the helicopter into the animal’s buttocks or shoulder. The drugs are administered by the dart into the animal upon contact and the animal basically falls asleep. The animal is then either loaded into the transport vehicle or woken up with the reversal drug or if the animal is darted due to injury, the injury is attended to and woken up with a reversal drug.
We do about 4 to 5 game counts a month to help farmers with management decisions on their property. Our helicopter flies in a grid formation over the farm and all species of animals are then counted by usually two persons in the helicopter. These counts are then compared and a final number per head of game is established.
Game counts can be done on the ground, but this is a very tedious process and not nearly as accurate as doing it with a helicopter.
About Fish Eagle Wildlife Services
