Fake buck poachers beware

A FARMING couple in Alexandria are sick and tired of their bush buck being poached, especially because they aren‘t even real.

Riana and Gerhard Heyneke have had to cope with vandals or overeager hunters taking pot shots at the fibreglass buck at the entrance to their game farm, and even worse, stealing and completely destroying the expensive features.

Now they are offering a reward for the capture of the louts.
The Heyneke‘s bought the 1 000ha farm four years ago and named it Ubukhulu – the Xhosa word for “greatness”. They stocked it with game, eradicated alien vegetation and sought to restore the land to a pristine state.

Wanting to make the entrance to Ubukhulu interesting, two years ago Riana asked a local taxidermist to make a fibreglass bush buck ram and ewe to place at their gate. They were so realistic, motorists on the Salem road have stopped and doubled back to check them out.

On a road lined with game farms, Gerhard said it was almost inevitable that someone would take a pot shot at the fake buck. He even chuckled about it.

But he and Riana were disturbed when they went out on a Sunday morning in August last year and found both the ram and the ewe destroyed and tossed over their fence.

“They put the horns in the ears and kicked them to pieces,” said Gerhard. “Why do that?”
They reported the incident to the police and took the broken pieces to the taxidermist, who repaired them at a cost of R6 000 for each animal.

The Heyneke‘s put the ram and ewe back in pride of place at the entrance to Ubukhulu in January, but last weekend vandals struck again.
This time they broke the ram‘s legs off and damaged the ewe by breaking her neck.

Gerhard and Riana believe the responsible vandal was someone who uses the Salem Road regularly.

Other worrying incidents have taken place on the road, such as hunting vehicles blinding approaching vehicles with their spotlights, suspicious characters hanging around their farm gate and neighbours‘ warnings over troublemakers driving around in a red VW Golf.

The Heyneke‘s have also been hit by other crime. Thieves stole four solar panels, one of which was on a 9m-high steel pole.
The vandals who destroyed their fake buck, also broke the motor for their electric gate.

Poaching has been rare, but one of their real buck was recently caught in a noose and needs to be put down.
Most of the criminals‘ energy seems directed at their harmless fibreglass animals, and the Heyneke‘s are at loss to explain it.

Fed up, they are offering a R3000-reward to anyone who comes forward with information that leads to a conviction of those responsible.
“Everyone is trying to improve their farms and the environment,” said Gerhard.
“We‘ll put the buck back, but after the fifth time, I don‘t know ... ” - JON HOUZET