Daktari Bush School and Animal Orphanage in South Africa

Yesterday, Thursday 31st of January, Daktari has been called to rescue an orphaned waterbuck. When we arrived on the site, the poor little antelope was very weak and covered with ticks. We decided not to take any chance and took her (she is female) to the vet. One hour later, "Fleur" the baby waterbuck was in the hand of our wildlife vet, Peter Rogers. The diagnostic is sever. Fleur's blood has been drained out by the ticks and she got the parasite in her blood. She is approximately 1 month old and has been by herself for the last two or three days.

It is actually a miracle that she didn't get eaten by any predator on the reserve where she was found.

The chance of surviving are very slim but we believe that Fleur is very strong to have been able to survive so far. So we all have decided to give her our full attention and care. She made her first night Thursday by sleeping in a big box where she couldn't move to much to prevent her to get off the drip. It was a sleepless night for Daktari but we were all very happy in the morning that she made the night as usually weak animals die around 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning.

Today she has slept a lot and even managed to get up for very short walks in her camp. We organised ourselves, with the volunteers, to make turn that she never stay alone, as she starts to cry if we do so!!!! Unfortunately none of us has been able to give her the envy to drink milk through the bottle.

Tonight is another critical time for her. We made a nice bed of hay for her and covered her with blankets and hot water bottles to keep her warm. Candy our cross spaniel and Maltese poodle is also helping by licking her and keeping her company. She is very concerned!!! We are all going to take turn tonight and sleep under the stars with her to make sure she is warm the whole night and not lonely.

Do not hesitate to visit the website again to find out how Fleur is doing