According to an SPCA inspector, Ms Elloise Rootman, the SPCA was informed that someone was keeping an ostrich in a yard in the area. The inspectors drove there last Thursday afternoon and saw something they will not forget in a hurry.
In a small camp, no bigger than the back of a small delivery truck stood a young male ostrich. There were several bricks on the ground and the bird did not even have a level surface underneath him. Still, the owners seemed to care deeply for it.
“A woman explained that her father had brought the bird home when it was still a chick. No one expected it to get this big. They did not have a problem with us removing the ostrich because they real-ised they could not care for it properly, but pleaded for us to spare their pet’s life,” says Rootman. She added that the SPCA would never harm any animal.
The ostrich was so tame that it let one of the family members scratch its neck.
Although the ostrich was named Betty, because the owners initially thought the chick was a female, the SPCA staff renamed it Bertie after its black and white plumage clearly showed it to be a male. They loaded the bird onto a trailer and took it to the SPCA’s premises in Beerster Street in Carletonville.
Here, the ostrich, which had only known the small camp, experienced the feeling of grass under its feet for the first time.
“You could see how it relaxed the moment it stepped onto the ground,” says the chairman of the SPCA’s governing body, Mr Piet Groenewald.
The ostrich will be able to enjoy the freedom of a camp until the SPCA finds the right home for him after the lockdown.
Although the SPCA offices are closed during the lockdown, residents with emergencies, like pets that have been hit by vehicles, can contact them at the emergency number, 064 752 6035. The cages in front of their office are still open for people to drop off stray animals.