Visitor has resident guessing
Due to the fact that it is a wild animal residents are advised not to try and capture them or keep as pets.
Johan de Jager was very excited when a furry visitor showed up in his garden on Golf Club Terrace on Wednesday.
He was quick to photograph the little mammal and quickly looked it up in his mammal guide as well as on the internet. He was fascinated when he learned the Slender Mongoose (Swartkwasmuishond) is usually found on the Savannah plains and in semi-dry areas, which left him baffled as to what the animal was doing in the suburbs of Roodepoort. One of the explanations was that someone might illegally have kept the animal as a pet.
According to wildlife rehabilitation specialist Niccy Wright of the Freeme Rehabilitation Centre though, the Slender Mongoose is not such a rare resident in the fringe suburbs of Johannesburg and is even spotted in Bryanstan.
Wright says the animal thrives here because of the good food source in the suburbs and habituates very well, even becoming wise to the dangers of the suburbs such as dogs. She also says the Mongoose forms an integral part of the local eco-system as it eats rats, mice and insects.
