Oom Thys and the gemsbok

[Willie Barnard]

Oom Thys was one of Botswana's pioneers. Born before WWII in the then West-Transvaal, his family moved to the north-eastern corner of the then Bechuanaland Protectorate. He grew up on a farm next to the Ramokgwebana river, the boundary between Rhodesia and Bechuanaland.
He had hunted the whole of Botswana and could tell mouth-watering tales of hunting elephants in the north, or "biltongwild" in the wide Kalahari.

But now he was retired, in his eighties, he lived in Ellisras, and kept himself busy visiting friends and relatives in the neighbouring Botswana, or even going on the occasional fishing trip to Kasane. He was a fit octogenarian.

Oom Thys' daughter and son-in-law (Dirk) owned a farm in the nearby Tuli-Block. They were busy converting from cattle- to game-farming. On the day the truck brought the herd gemsbok, Oom Thys was there to watch them offload. Always interested in wildlife, he wouldn't miss an opportunity like this. As the last of the gemsbuck came off the truck, they noticed a gemsbok cow lying on her side in the truck. She was obviously dying. With the keen eye of the farmer and the hunter, he noticed that she was heavily pregnant. It was winter, and this pregnancy was completely out of season, and unexpected. It was also the reason why this particular cow could not survive the stress of capture and transport.

"Dirk!" he shouted, "bring a knife and cut her throat, quick!" As Dirk obliged, he received his next instruction : "Cut the belly, and get that calf out!" Under Oom Thys' expert guidance, and with some mouth-to-muzzle resuscitation, the calf was brought to life.

There followed some weeks of dedicated bottle feeding, but Oom Thys was retired, and spent all the time needed to rear this orphan. When the young gemsbok bull was strong enough, this task was transferred to one of the trusted farm workers. Oom Thys would visit his foster child from time to time, and told everybody that the gemsbok recognised him as the "midwife" that brought him into this world. After the Gemsbok was weaned, it still stayed around the house, and made a bit of a nuisance of itself. It was given a paddock of its own, next to the cattle kraal, but there it seemed to be getting frustrated, walking up and down the fence, and trying to befriend any human in sight.
It is said that a hand reared animal regard other humans as members of his herd. He would then play sparring games with people, and try to stab them. Needless to say, he didn't get the playmates he wanted so desperately.

When the gemsbok was 3 years old, Dirk transferred it to the game camp, hoping that it would join the gemsbok herd.
The gemsbok preferred to stay in the vicinity of the new chalet they had built to accommodate their first hunting guests expected later that year. The gemsbok was not interested in the wild herd.

It was on a Sunday afternoon that they decided to go and have a look at the chalet and hunting camp. Dirk had received visitors - his cousin, Herman, who had a butchery in a nearby Botswana town, was there for the weekend. The womenfolk were in front in the Land-cruiser, and the three men - Dirk, Herman and Oom Thys stood in the back. When Dirk's wife asked him if he shouldn't take a rifle along, oom Thys remarked that "his" gemsbok wouldn't harm anybody.

At the chalet, the men disembarked and started walking towards the building. They didn't see the gemsbok until it was almost on top of Dirk. Dirk managed to jump out of the way, and grabbed the horns just in time. This wasn't a sparring match, this was a life-and-death struggle. Herman helped Dirk wrestle the animal to the ground, which created a stalemate situation. They couldn't keep it down for ever, but they couldn't let it go either. Dirk ordered his wife to drive home and bring the .270 rifle. The two men were holding their own, but they were getting tired.

When the cruiser returned, Oom Thys took the rifle. He also took the cattle prodder from the cruiser. Then they realised that there was no ammunition in the magazine. The ladies drove off again to fetch the ammo.
Now Oom Thys made a HUGE mistake. He probably thought that the time had come for him to punish this naughty child of his. Oom Thys took the cattle prodder and gave the gemsbok a shock!
It was an explosion of raw power. In a second the gemsbok was on its feet and charged straight at Oom Thys. how he avoided being rapiered, he didn't know, but now oom Thys was hanging onto the horns, and the bok was pummelling him to the ground. Dirk and Herman was so exhausted by now, that they simply couldn't get the animal down again. How long this continued, nobody could tell, but it seemed like an eternity.

At last the precious ammo arrived, and Dirk ended the fight with a point blank neck shot.

When they reached the surgery, oom Thys was in a terrible condition. He had abrasions and lacerations all over. I cleaned them as best I could, and sutured the lacerations where sufficient skin was still available for suturing. I was worried about fluid loss and dehydration from the open wounds (some of them resembling second degree burn wounds), and wanted to hospitalise him for intravenous treatment. Being 86 years old was obviously also a drawback. Oom Thys refused the hospital option stubbornly - Botswana pioneers are made of stern stuff indeed. He made a full recovery.

(Of course oom Thys didn't tell me about the cattle prodder. That part of the story I heard from Herman, when I saw him on a different occasion. I never mentioned to Oom Thys that I knew about the prodder story, as I suspected it would embarrass him. It almost ended in tragedy though.)

Willie Barnard

[Wanderin' Zero]

Mooi even Willie! Thank you.

[TStone]

Thanks for sharing Willie.

[camouflage762]

Thanks for posting Doc.

When I was studying a friend had a Lemur. Raised from young it too started biting everyone.

Killer whales in captivity also appear to turn on their trainers.

[CorditeCrazy]

Thanks Willie, please keep them coming.

[Kaptein L]

Thanks Doc

[Ds J]

Tanks Willie! When we visited the bird-of-prey centre at Dullstroom, the guide told us that handraised bird cannot adopt to wild living because they do not understand themselves as wild animals. They imprint on the parent after birth, and in the case of being human-raised, on the human.

Is there a possibility that something similar happens to other wild animals when they are raised by hand?

[Maroelas]

Thanks for sharing Doc! Definitely not boring as you said in the other thread :)