A subsistence farmer from Mankone Village outside Peddie has had many sleepless nights over the past few months with 25 of his sheep having been attacked by an as yet-to-be identified animal.
Zandisile Yafele, who sent the Daily Dispatch photographs of the injured sheep, says he is puzzled by how the mystery animal has been able to attack his family’s sheep as the livestock are kept in a kraal overnight.
“It used to kill two sheep at a time, but what shocked us last week was when it killed 11 at one time. Now we suspect that it could have a partner or its offspring, because a single animal cannot kill so many sheep in one go.”
He said men in the village believed it could be a caracal. “There is no other animal we could think of that behaves like this. This problem has been going on throughout the whole year. It does not eat them, [sheep], it just injures them, and we have no other option but to put the animals down because we cannot just watch them in that pain.”
The situation has had a negative impact on his 80-year-old father. “My father is the one who looks after these sheep and makes money through selling wool and selling some of them. He had to be hospitalised last week due to stress.”..