A scared, injured sable was chased through the streets of Valhalla on Thursday morning after it escaped from Groenkloof nature reserve.
The antelope made its way from the reserve to Valhalla, where it was hit by a car just before 06:00.
Just after 06:00, flight sergeant Johan Croucamp of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), spotted the sable.
He managed to corner it on a property and called his superiors and the police.
While the man who had hit the sable reported the accident to the police, Constable Jakes Pretorius, of the Wierdabrug police, also received a call regarding the animal and responded.
Shortly after this, more police officers, SANDF members, security members and Wierdabrug sector 1 community policing forum responded.
They all helped cordon off the area around the property where the sable was trapped and called Dr Angela Brüns, of the National Zoological Gardens (NZG) of Pretoria, to help.
Dr Brüns darted the sable before it ran off into an open field.
Five minutes later the scared sable finally gave in to the drugs and passed out.
Dr Brüns and Tshwane nature conservationists Philip de Beer and Alexander Heunis held the sable down and administered a final dose of tranquilisers.
The sable was blindfolded and loaded into the NZG bakkie.
Riding convoy, police, SANDF members, nature conservationists and NZG staff escorted the animal back to the reserve, where it was released into a temporary enclosure.
Dr Brüns said the sable’s injuries did not appear to be serious and it should make a full recovery.
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