Beware - another animal blog!

One of the things I’m very passionate about, are animals (in a very non-weird, no pun intended way). I’ve been like that for as long as I can remember. Even as a kid, I used to take every single stray I found home, and my parents were always kind enough to either keep them or find them a new owner. I use to rob my cats of their pray and steal mice and birds which they’d caught. I’d then hide them under my bed until they got better. Most didn’t, the rest either escaped their shoebox hospital or were ‘euthanized’ by my dad.
Both of my cats are adopted strays and so is my dog Marvin that I, sadly, had to leave in Croatia. He lives on the farm with my mom though, and probably likes it more than he would ever like this big city. I miss my puppy, though.




When I first came to South Africa I had plenty of spare time, and I spent a while volunteering at C.R.O.W., which takes care of wildlife. They rescue wild animals from the city and the surrounding areas & release them as soon as they’ve recovered or are old enough to be put back in the wild (you can find a few stories here). They also accept volunteers from around the world, so if you ever wanted to do ‘Animal Cops’ African style, this is the place to go.

A lot of the workload is not particularly romantic and involves cleaning the cages and enclosures, cutting up dead baby chicks, which are donated by chicken farms and used to feed the carnivores and trying to make baby birds poop by rubbing their bums. Yes, I’ve spent an impressive amount of time rubbing bird bums until they poo. You also get to go on rescue missions, but I only got to go on one.
No hanging out with the animals, though. They need to be readied for the wild and interaction with humans doesn’t help. We did get to cuddle the little ones though, at least for a little while.





And then there are some that will stay at the centre or be adopted by someone because they used to be someone’s pet and will never be able to take care of themselves. Like Pawpaw, the little mousebird that used to hang upside down on my head and nibble my ears.



The baby season starts soon (almost spring in SA), so I must go and visit so I can harass you guys with more animal photos.