GRAPHIC CONTENT: Bird lover angered over shooting of hadeda in Berea
"It is shocking to think someone could harm such an innocent creature whose only crime was the familiar hadeda call we all know so well." - Resident
A LOCAL bird lover has expressed anger at the cruelty of people who shot and killed a hadeda in the Berea area on Tuesday, 11 August.
Resident, Heather Kohler, posted on Durban Facebook page Broken Wings after the incident.
She said she was left saddened, as this hadeda and his partner have been visiting her garden for as long as she can remember and have produced a few fledglings in the tree in front of her building.
“I went out to the back of the building and found the lifeless body with a single bloody mark on its head. The bird lay in the driveway below one of its favourite spots in a mango tree in Chancellor Road. I can reach only one conclusion, that someone shot it with a pellet gun. It is shocking to think someone could harm such an innocent creature whose only crime was the familiar hadeda call we all know so well,” she said.
She said some months ago she saw a child from a building in Chancellor Road aiming a catapult at a bird and shouted at him, warning he would be in trouble if she ever saw him shooting at a bird again.
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“I have posted on all my social media groups and appealed to parents to educate their children on our need to share our space with wildlife. This was a really sad and unnecessary loss. Very distressing to see the remaining hadeda arrive in the garden on his own. I believe they mate for life and they have reared offspring in the grounds of our complex in the past,” she said.
Kohler said if she can track down the culprit, she will definitely lay charges.
“At the very least, I hope the word gets around as the response on social media has been one of unmitigated anger and a desire to punish whoever is responsible. The perpetrator is warned that residents will not tolerate such cruelty and are waiting to catch them should they ever try this again,” she said.
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