December 22nd, 2019 was an exciting day for our banded mongooses (and everyone at the camp)!
After taking care of these banded mongooses for quite a while, we finally had a group big enough to be released. After catching all of them and loading them on the back of our bakkie, we drove to a neighbouring farm where they were set free.
The newly released family consists of 12 mongoose, most of who came into DAKTARI at a very young age. They were found abandoned and hand raised by our volunteers. Another few came into our care at an older age after becoming a bit too violent for their carers.
We are very happy to say that the pack immediately ran off to go explore their new paradise (as you can see in the video below). As mongooses typically live in groups of at least 10 individuals, some of these creatures had to spend quite a while at our camp. Releasing them in smaller groups would have given them a smaller chance of survival so we did not want to do that.
We are certainly going to miss these little rascals, but we are very excited for them to start their second life in the wild!