News-eum: Family with ‘dangerous’ passion for animals

At Highway Mail, we found something fascinating that we thought you may enjoy taking a peak at – we unearthed some archived Highway Mail papers from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Sub-editor Kathy Bosman will showcase some of these old articles and look at how things have changed since then in the community, the area and the world at large. This week, we are shining the light on the yellowed pages of the February 28, 1958 edition of Highway Mail, on an article about a man called VE Dinkelman who caused quite a stir when he brought his pet lion cub to the ‘village of Hill Crest’.

WHEN we found the article in the 1958 Highway Mail about VE Dinkelman causing a stir in Hillcrest, we decided to get in touch with Dingo Dinkelman, South Africa’s version of the late Steve Irwin, to find out if he is in any way related to the late Mr VE.

The article from 1958 reads, “Immediately Mr. V. E. Dinkelman, dairy farmer of Hill Crest, arrives in the village and pulls up his big blue station wagon, he is surrounded by about 20 people… But it’s not Mr. Dinkelman they find so intriguing; it’s his unusual pet, a three-month-old lion cub which he brought to his farm from Zululand a fortnight ago… Mr. Dinkelman says the cub is very friendly with his children who play with it on the lawn at home – after it has had a good meal, not before.”

Well, much to our delight, we discovered that Dingo is related to him albeit a little distantly. VE Dinkelman was on his grandfather’s brother’s side of the family, so it seems the love for animals – and even dangerous ones – definitely runs through the Dinkelman clan. Highway Mail visited Dingo Dinkelman at his home in Hillcrest – Dingo’s eyes light up when he talks about any kind of animal, and they tear up when he explains their plight.

Dingo’s grandfather also had a love for animals, but not the dangerous kind. He was into pigeons and birds. Dingo’s dad worked for the Parks Board, and he always loved animals. He also did pigeon fancying. His dad got him into snakes, more the non-venomous kind, but Dingo liked the predators. He wasn’t allowed venomous snakes while under his dad’s roof, so as soon as he moved out, he bought some. But his love for animals doesn’t only encompass venomous snakes.

Also read: Snake catcher rescues monitor lizard at a pool in Westville home

Six years ago, Dingo made the leap to live off of his passion and developed his social media accounts on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. His wife and kids work with him to help spread the love for animals. The family and their team are currently focusing mostly on the South African audience because that’s where they feel they can make a difference. Their massive overseas following helps fund their work. They’ve been able to raise over a million rand on their YouTube platforms to help with pangolin, rhino and lion conservation work. He mostly makes videos about reptiles, but Dingo is passionate about all animals.

The work they do includes school shows and educational programmes with kids. Another huge project they’ve been working on for the last five years is the planning and building of a state-of-the-art animal park in Cato Ridge which they will start construction on in early 2024. The aim is for it to open to the public by the end of 2024.
“We’re trying to build a park to set the standard for how parks should be run in the African continent because I don’t like the way it’s done. We want animals to live free so that when people see them, they will fall in love with animals – not by showing the animals in a cage. There is a better way to do it.”

A passion for danger – for the animals

He confesses that his job is dangerous, but he does it with a twinkle in his eye as if he enjoys the adrenaline rush.
“For example, I was diving off a boat in Umkomaas Valley flood waters so we could get footage to show people how incredible legavaans or rock monitor lizards are. I want to educate people about animals so they fall in love with them. Crocodiles aren’t these big beasts that want to kill you, but they have personalities – they can distinguish between different people, and they’re not mindless killers – they have a place in our ecosystem.

Also read: Prioritising the well-being of animals

“I understand that people are scared of snakes. That’s why we focus on the kids so they can build some kind of connection with the snakes. They don’t have to love snakes, but we want them to understand that the snakes found in our gardens don’t want to come into the house to eat us. The snake in your garden has no interest in you whatsoever – if it comes into your house, it is probably by accident because it was chasing a gecko.”

The extreme highs and lows of working for the animals

Asked if he’d had any scary experiences when working with animals, Dingo says, “I’ve had a few. I’ve been bitten by a black mamba before, back in 2003. I ended up in hospital and almost died. It was in Pietermaritzburg where I was doing a show. I’m allergic to snake venom so if I get bitten by a venomous snake or just about any snake, I go into anaphylactic shock within about half a minute. I have to be careful.

“I developed the allergy after my black mamba bite. It was a serious bite. And I’ve been bitten since. I was filming in Bolivia for the history channel. It wasn’t a venomous snake – it was a version of our red-lipped herald. I had a massive allergic reaction in the middle of the jungle. I almost died about seven or eight times. I was airlifted out of there and ended up in a Bolivian ICU for a few days.

“My kids were four, six and eight at the time, and I was dying on the floor of the Bolivian jungle, thinking I’m 10 000km away from my family, chasing my dream. When we came back, it was a good time for us to reflect on why we are doing this.

“My kids have dehorned rhinos; they’ve helped us move lions and watched an operation on a lion. They’ve worked with elephants; they’ve worked with snakes and crocodiles – they’ve helped move them. And I feel that when you’re involved with nature, it’s humbling. It puts you in your place. When you’re next to a big rhino that actually doesn’t need you – but now it does because we’ve messed it up as human beings – I find it really humbling, and it’s deeply moving for us as a family.

Also read: Chirping with Kloof Conservancy – Violet-backed Starling

“I can’t stop the rhino-horn trade; I can’t stop someone from killing a black mamba that comes into their house. But if I can get a little Chinese girl in an orphanage to look at a rhino and think, ‘Wow, that’s cute,’ maybe when she’s older, she will prefer that rhino alive rather than dead. If we can get people to fall in love with animals or just respect them – that’s what it’s all about.”

Are there dangerous reptiles in the Highway area?

“Yeah, we’ve got some good ones.” He seems to relish the fact. “We have black mambas, and down farther, in Westville, just 10km from the beach, we have green mambas. You’ve got probably six or seven venomous snakes around here. You don’t hear about people getting bitten. We’ve got a lot of black mambas all around the Hillcrest area, not specifically in Hillcrest town, but in Westville, Summerveld, Waterfall – there is a ring of mambas around us.”

You can find Dingo at the following social media handles/links: Instagram – @dingo_dinkelman; Facebook Page – Dingo (https://www.facebook.com/dingodinkelman); YouTube – https://youtube.com/@dingodinkelman

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