Fourways Mall ducks to get a new home

The ducks that have made their home near the Adventure Golf course in Fourways Mall have been move to a new home at the Indaba Hotel after residents expressed concern at their welfare during the mall’s renovation.

In a Facebook post by Fourways resident, Jennifer Came on the ‘I Love Fourways’ page, public attention was drawn to the fact that the ducks living on the landscape feature dam were doing so in dirty water, which is surrounded by construction as the mall is being renovated.

There was also a concern that an Environmental Management Plan voluntarily undertaken by Accelerate Properties, the company responsible for the mall’s redevelopment, found that the water in the dam had an e-coli content 3 300 times higher than the Department of Water and Sanitation’s standard, as a result of a leaking sewer underneath the dam.

Others quickly agreed that the duck’s well-being might be at risk, and that’s when the Fourways Improvement District Initiative stepped in.

“What the Fourways Initiative does is look after the community,” explained co-founder Nic Papas. “I was online [a few days ago] and I saw a post discussing the ducks at the mall. I then took it upon myself to approach Accelerate Properties and ask if they would be willing to let the ducks be resettled. I also approached the Indaba Hotel with the hope that they would let [the ducks] be moved there.”

Sharon Hunink, marketing and sales manager of the Indaba Hotel, said they quickly agreed for the birds to be relocated to a site on the property, a move that she hopes will happen about 12 December when the hotel is quiet enough for the animals to settle well.

“We have two dams on the property,” she explained. “And we are more than willing to adopt them.

“Our chef even offered to rush out and buy duck food this morning,” Hunink laughed.

Read also: Taxi driver rescues duck family on N1

Margi Brocklehurst of the Friends of Free Wildlife, a non-profit organisation in Kyalami, has been approached by the Indaba management to help with the rehoming. While she is eager to help out, Brocklehurst did express concern that the animals may not necessarily be successfully rehomed.

“We must remember that these animals are able to remove themselves – they can fly. The issue with rehoming any wild animal, but particularly with bird species, is that they might just decide to head back to where they think of as ‘home’,” she said. “It is also extremely difficult to catch and move animals if they are not used to human interaction.”

In the meantime, Accelerate Properies has vowed to undertake the repair of the dam to halt such a dangerous leak, and has stated that the ducks have access to fresh water in the form of other dams on the William Nicol Drive side of the property.

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