As usual we arrived at the airstrip at dawn. This morning it was awash with animals, impala, wildebeest and many zebra herds.
And sadly there was an abandoned zebra foal struggling to gain it’s footing. It just couldn’t get up, try as it may. But it never gave up struggling throughout the day.
It appeared it might have been bitten in the neck by a predator, which had partially paralysed it. It did manage to get up once and trotted off with its head held stiffly to one side. Wobbly on its legs, it collapsed and didn’t regain it’s footing all day, but not through lack of trying.
Other zebra came by but never approached too close before running off scared.
The impala herds were initially spooked but then totally disregarded the little one as it struggled.
The jackal family showed a lot of interest. All 5 of them, but they couldn’t muster the courage take on the foal even though they knew it was pretty helpless. The jackal kept checking on the foal right through the day and we left them at dusk still in the area.
Predators are often a lot bolder at night, so hopefully tonight they’ll put it out of its misery.
It was strange that the mother never came back to her little one. Or maybe she did but was spooked by its struggles.
So the dramas continue on airstrip. In the 10 days or so that I’ve been frequenting it, a newborn zebra foal has died and fed on by vultures and jackal. The jackal have killed a guineafowl and today’s sad story.
Of course there’s plenty more drama going on out there but on a much smaller scale. Birds killing insects, insects killing insects, jackals killing insects. Insects sure pulled the short straw!
In the late afternoon a lone elephant bull crossed the airstrip with his bold demeanor. It was more his way to try and prove to himself that actually he wasn’t scared to be out here in the open on his own. He didn’t hang around.
It is hard for me to watch any animal suffer, especially zebras. This little zebra foal is really sad to watch. I do hope it is taken care of quickly.
I cannot make my self watch this poor creature suffer.As i am aware that nature is often cruel and must take its course I also know that there are times where compassion from humans as being part of another natural act should step in and show mercy. I feel this was one of those times.This poor little suffering animal should of been taken and put down.If it is to be part of the food for the other animals as we see that no predator came to it until it was dead the body could of been put back into the wild to be a source of food for others.But to let this poor creature knowingly suffer like that is appalling to me. We too are part of nature and being near them to see some thing like that happen just wasn’t right. I know that many of aging lions and leopards with quills in them that were suffering were put down what was the difference with this poor creature. All animals cannot be spared their suffering of course because people are not there to see everything put shame this time. I am sorry if this offends any one but this is my opinion I respect all the wonderful videos and work and will continue to learn about nature and appreciate all the wonderful natural beauty that i am seeing. But there just are times the are the exception to any rules. I believe this was one
With My Highest Respect
Sue
I couldn’t agree more with Sue…to watch any animal in obvious distress is not right! The little guy should have been put out of his misery. I would hope that his obvious suffering was not prolonged for the sake of good footage! I’m sorry but I have very little regard for anyone that would do that.
With much less respect…
Louise
Thank you Kim for being willing to show both the good and the bad. Even though we don’t like it, sad things like this happen every single day in the wild. And I know that if you interfered every time there was an animal in distress, the animals would not trust you to be out and about with them. I am sure it is hard for you to witness and hard for us to watvh, but I applaud you for being able to show us all sides to your life among the animals.
@ sue and louise.
In your argument to put the animal out of its misery, you only define the line between man and nature even more. Why should man step in and put the animal out of its misery? is that natural? when have you seen it happen in nature? your argument is that of a human that can never be one with nature, or any part of nature, except a detriment. Don’t get me wrong, though. I love nature and I will always admire it, but I know we are seperate from it, and through the technologies and advancements of today and tomorrow, we will one day surpass it and leave it behind. It is a sad truth. You must let nature take its course. It will never be justified to “step in” or “make an exception” because we have no right to make that decision in their world. If it is hard for you to see this, which is something that happens quite often, you again make that line more prominent, and show how unnatural you really are.
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