A porcupine washed ashore on a Cape Town beach.
- A porcupine washed up on Melkbosstrand beach in Cape Town this week.
- The SPCA said an autopsy would determine how the animal died.
- Last week, an adult female anteater washed up on Sunset Beach in Milnerton.
A porcupine carcass washed up on Melbosstrand beach in Cape Town in the early hours of Tuesday.
It is not clear how long the dead animal was there and what caused its death.
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA said it was investigating the circumstances.
“We have been made aware of the animal that washed up on shore. The porcupine carcass has been turned over to the SPCA for an autopsy, but it is too early to speculate where the porcupine came from or how it ended up on the beach,” the SPCA said. Chief Inspector Jaco Pieterse.
The inspection team said it was important to guard against misinformation and that it would issue a statement with its findings once the autopsy results were ready.
“We want to guard against pointing fingers until we have all the facts and can draw a solid, factual conclusion as to why these wildlife carcasses are washing up on shore,” the SPCA added.
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Resident and avid bather Cornelia Jansen, who found the porcupine’s carcass, told News24 that “it was pretty weird” to see the dead animal lying there.
“She had a little blood on her nose, but as far as I could tell she had no other serious injuries. She had no foul odor, which could indicate the body was only there for a few minutes before it was placed in a box.” ” she said.
She called her friend, Liezl Neethling, who works closely with the SPCA, to come and see what she saw.
“When Liezl arrived on the beach, we moved the small carcass in a box and called the SPCA, who then picked up the animal at Liezl’s home. It’s definitely not the first time some kind of wild animal has turned up on this beach, but I was surprised — to see a porcupine of all the animals wash itself,” Jansen said.
A porcupine washed ashore on a Cape Town beach.
Last Friday, an adult female anteater washed up on Sunset Beach in Milnerton.
Most likely he died from suffocation or heart attack.
READ | ‘We couldn’t believe our eyes’ – Cape Town beachgoer after discovering dead anteater on shore
“An autopsy was performed which determined that the results indicate that the animal was already dead when it entered the water.
“[Even though the] the animal was already dead [it was] in very good condition when members of the public carried it out of the surf zone and left it on the beach where they picked it up,” Pieterse previously said.
Before that, a trapped Cape fur seal had to be euthanized after it was attacked and stoned to death by four men on Monwabisi beach in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
Luxoli Godana, 26, Nyameko Titi, 18, Nkosinathi Ndzendevu, 19, and Sibusiso Zamani, 22, were charged with animal cruelty and contravening the Animal Protection Act.
They were each released on R1,000 bail, much to the “disappointment” of the SPCA.
