Cape Town - The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) has rescued a four-month-old vulture that was trapped in the Hartbeespoort Dam.
In a statement, the NSRI said on Thursday that at about 10.45am, crew members of the Hartbeespoort Dam NSRI were activated after eyewitnesses reported a vulture which appeared to be trapped in dense hyacinth on the dam near to the Randburg Bridge.
NSRI Hartbeespoort Dam station commander Arthur Crewe said the NSRI rescue craft Rotary Endeavor was launched and they responded to the scene to investigate.
“Eyewitnesses confirmed that, earlier, two private boats had tried to assist the vulture but appeared to withdraw because of the dense hyacinth.
“On arrival on the scene, our NSRI rescue craft negotiated through approximately 900m of dense hyacinth and reached the vulture, which we found to be trapped by the foot in the hyacinth. Abandoned fishing line contributed to the entrapment,” Crewe said.
He said the vulture tried fleeing, but the entrapment prevented it from going anywhere.
“We were able to cut the vulture free from the hyacinth and from the fishing line and no attempt was made by the vulture to harm our rescue crew while the efforts to free the vulture were being made.
“Once freed, the vulture attempted to fly away but, appearing to be exhausted, the vulture landed in the water and drifted, but it was unable to get airborne,” Crewe said.
He said three NSRI rescue swimmers were deployed into the water and corralled the vulture to the shoreline. The local vulture conservation organisation Vulco was alerted and arrived to assist the crew members.
The vulture will undergo rehabilitation.
African News Agency (ANA)