Where's Polly Gone

The Cape Parrot (Poicephalus robustus)is in trouble. Trouble is there are only about 1 000 of these wild birds left in the entire world. So each year a dedicated band of bird lovers go out in the freezing cold and attempt to count what's left of these rare birds. This year I joined these happy campers and went in search of this noisy bird. The main problem is as usual loss of habitat. Our pioneering forefathers were probably singing a version of Monty Pythons "I'm a Lumberjack song when they decimated massive forests of yellow wood trees so the gentile folk of towns like Pietermaritzburg could have nice wooden floors and furniture. Cape Parrots only nest and feed in old yellow wood trees. Hundreds more were captured for collectors to keep in cages around the world. Today a breeding pair can easily fetch R120 000. We eventually found a small flock (50-60) of these birds feasting on exotic pecan nut trees in the Bulwer area of South Africa. Filming them was no easy task but with patience and much strain on the old neck muscles we got the shots. Hopefully the numbers are stable for now but the day that endangered "tick" is removed from their species is a long way off.

(One week Later)
IOL Myrtle Ryan May 18 2008

Six men who cut down 86 yellowwood trees - some as old as 500 years - in the Gongqo-Gongqo State Forest near Umzimkulu in 2001, were given stiff jail sentences this week. Victor Terblanche, 65, and his sons Morne, 35, and Pierre, 39, were sentenced to an effective eight years' imprisonment, while their accomplices, Chief Wilson Ntlabathi, 66, Eric Sithole, 58, and Siphiwe Satywa, 68, received effective five-year jail terms. Chairperson of the KZN Wildlife Crime Working Group Rod Potter said "This case is the first of its kind in the country, both in the magnitude of the offence and seriousness of the damage to the forest, comparable to environmental rape" .