MARLOTH PARK – “It’s bad news. I have not seen a poorer grass cover and composition in 30 years of ecological study.” This was the finding of an ecologist appointed by the Marloth Park Property Owners Association (MPPOA) to assess the carrying capacity of the veld which has to feed thousands of animals.
This popular residential area and holiday destination has been making headlines for months.
Experts have warned that the animal populations are too big and culling must take place. Various residents have voiced their opinions against this and proclaimed in August last year that, should grazing turn out to be too little for the animals, they would resort to feeding them.
Mr Ralf Kalwa of Rhengu Environmental Services was appointed by the MPPOA in February to conduct an assessment of the grazing and veld.
Although the final report will only be ready at the beginning of May, Kalwa has said in a preliminary report, “Forbs (a type of weed which is inedible to antelope) dominate the composition of the field layer on all sites with no grass within a 50-centimetre radius of each forb”.
Kalwa added, “I cannot imagine what the grazers are eating, obviously the people feeding them are saving their lives, literally.”
He has requested that the Nkomazi Local Municipality (NLM), which owns the animals in Marloth Park, sets the wheels in motion and approve an aggressive removal of the game.
He added that he would advise that only some founding herds of each species should remain and that as many animals as possible should be removed.
“The MTPA is satisfied that the process is underway and that everything is going according to plan.
“However, we need to understand that Marloth Park falls within the foot-and-mouth disease danger zone.
“I hope that the process of removing the animals will go ahead and that there will be very little interference from residents of the town. We at the MTPA will not tolerate any disruption of this process again and we will take legal action if it does happen,” Mr Jan Muller, head of biodiversity at the MTPA, warned.
Mr Velly Makwakwa represents the municipality and has promised his cooperation to Muller. They both added that they were ready to commence with the process as soon as possible.
Dr Cobus Raath, a veterinarian of White River, has already submitted a proposal to the NLM to erect bomas to capture the animals.
Muller explained that this decision lay with the municipality and council had to decide when the culling, selling or removal of animals would take place and who would be contracted to do it.
Residents were opposed to culling and suspected the municipality of corrupt dealings.
They wanted a transparent process during which everybody had access to information regarding the planned culling. That is why, they explained, they started feeding the animals themselves.
Muller again criticised this decision, saying that it was the one and only reason why the grazing and veld would take a long time to recover.
“They interfered with a natural process and the situation is now worse than ever. Many more animals will have to be removed to give the veld time to recover. This recovery could take at least 10 years.”
There are many reports indicating that there is a very high level of tuberculosis (TB) among the animals in Marloth Park. While it is rare for impala to contract TB, in Marloth Park this is actually the opposite.
High numbers of impala do have TB. One of the main reasons for the high levels of TB seen here is the feeding of the game. The quickest way for TB to spread is via feeding stations.
It was noted that the recent impala deaths had not been confirmed to be a result of starvation and that it was a possibility that the likely cause of death was TB.
