Catching Houdini: Feral dog that evaded capture for 5 weeks finally caught

A feral dog that has been evading capture for five weeks in the Randpark Ridge and Bromhof suburbs of Johannesburg has finally been caught.

The black labrador, Houdini, as named by the community, started visiting a feral cat colony at Rhema Bible Church North in January, eating the cats’ food and destroying some of the colony’s homes.

Mandy Marshall Mockler, a concerned resident and chairperson of the Bank Road Residents Association, then took to monitoring security cameras in the area in an attempt to capture the dog. “I could see in the footage that he was limping and realised he needed to be rescued,” she said.

“He might have been bumped by a car. At a stage, he was even spotted on the highway so we were concerned for his safety.”

Mockler’s posts and updates on social media about Houdini captured the hearts and minds of the community.
But despite numerous attempts, the residents failed to catch him.

“In all our efforts, Houdini has been eating a Michelin-star rated diet over the past few weeks. We have fed him Russian sausages, fresh ox liver, pilchards with tomato sauce, rib eye steak, porterhouse steak and KFC, but we couldn’t get near him,” she said.

Houdini was initially caught in a trap on 19 January but managed to escape. Eventually the operation had to be escalated from a “dog capture” to a “wildlife capture”.

The local residents called in the services of animal trapper, Thys Mulder, and wildlife rescuer and CEO of Wild Serve, Dirk Engelbrecht.

Two specifically designed large enclosure-type traps were constructed and monitored.

On Wednesday night, while tugging on a trigger-linked steak, Houdini activated the enclosure doors and found himself trapped.

The dog still put up a fight, though. As three adults attempted to put him in a crate for transportation, he bit Mulder, injuring him badly enough that he had to be taken to hospital.

Michael Sutton, from the Muldersdrift Animal Clinic, was then called in to dart the dog on Thursday.

Rescued and safe, Houdini has been taken to Labrador Rescue and will go through a rehabilitation process, after which he will be rehomed.

According to Mockler, the experience has brought the community closer. “People were very interested in Houdini’s fate and the community donated money and materials for the construction of the traps.”

The traps will now be kept at Wild Serve and will be used in future rescue operations.

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