A SERVAL’S JOURNEY OF HOPE: FROM REHABILITATION TO RELEASE AT UKUWELA
Wild Tomorrow was delighted to welcome a rescued serval from our wildlife rehabilitation partner, FreeMe Wildlife. This stunning wild cat needed a safe wild home with abundant rodents and water resources – a perfect match for our reserve!
Read more about the release and monitoring of this stunning wild cat and our new serval research and monitoring program in our latest blog below.
At first glance, the serval (Leptailurus serval) looks like a leggy, wild cross between a cheetah and a domestic cat. This gorgeous medium-sized wild cat belongs to the “caracal lineage” of the Felidae (cat) family, along with caracals and African golden cats.
With long legs, a slender body, and large rounded ears, servals are built for agility and speed. Their striking coat patterns resemble a cheetah’s spots with added tiger stripes – aptly named ‘tierboskat’ in Afrikaans, which means ‘tiger bush cat’. They’re also nicknamed the ‘giraffe cat’ because of their long legs and neck. Native to sub-Saharan Africa, servals thrive in wetlands, savannas, and grasslands, where they prey on rodents, birds, insects, and small reptiles – which is exactly the habitat that our protected Ukuwela Reserve is ready to provide for a rescued serval.
IN NEED OF REHAB
One year ago, the young male serval was found near the Eswatini border post. He was in a dire state: emaciated, dehydrated, and separated from his mother. At just four months old, he was too young to survive on his own. Thanks to the quick actions of compassionate individuals, he was rescued and brought to FreeMe Wildlife, our local non-profit partner dedicated to the rehabilitation of injured and orphaned wildlife. Here, this lucky serval’s journey towards recovery began.
The initial phase of the serval's rehabilitation focused on stabilization. This involved fluid therapy to rehydrate him, feeding him milk from a bottle, and ensuring he stayed warm and comfortable. Creating a simulated natural environment was crucial to his recovery, mimicking the grasslands he would eventually return to. As he gained strength and began eating healthily, he was moved from indoor care to larger outdoor enclosures. Here, he could stretch and exercise, essential for building muscle and honing his natural instincts.
Enrichment activities played a vital role in his rehabilitation. These activities were designed to stimulate his senses—hearing, sight, touch, and taste—preparing him for the challenges of life in the wild. By replicating his natural habitat and encouraging natural behaviors, FreeMe Wildlife ensured that the serval could develop the skills he needed to survive independently.
PREPARING FOR RELEASE
After 256 days of care at FreeMe, the serval, now approximately 11 to 12 months old, was ready for release. This age is significant; in the wild, serval mothers typically chase their offspring away to fend for themselves at around this time. By mirroring this natural timeline, FreeMe Wildlife maximized the young serval's chances of successful integration into the wild.
The release process began with the serval being baited into a squeeze cage, which allowed for safe sedation by a veterinarian. While the serval was asleep, various procedures were performed: measuring biometrics, inoculating against rabies, placing an ear tag, inserting a transponder, and fitting a satellite collar.
The rehabilitated serval the day before its release on our Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve
A NEW HOME IN THE WILD
Once the preparations were complete and the serval had fully awakened in his crate, he was transported to his new home, a 4-hour drive from FreeMe’s rehabilitation center near Durban to Wild Tomorrows’ Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal. Our protected area offers an ideal habitat to help the serval survive and thrive. Since the young serval had not been exposed to predators, there was a concern that large competing predators could easily catch it if released in areas with higher predator densities. As such, the Mfuleni section of our reserve was chosen as the release site due to its abundant water and marshy areas, plus the absence of large predators other than leopards. We hope that the reserve's diverse ecosystems and abundant prey base will provide the perfect setting for him to establish his territory.
To keep tabs on this lucky rehabilitated serval, Wild Tomorrow purchased a satellite collar to help us monitor the serval and his movements after his release. The collar was specifically designed to fall off after a year to ensure that the animal does not wander around the bush with a collar on it once the battery runs flat. As you can see in the video, he began by exploring the reserve and then exited our protected area to explore a nearby farm. This is important information as it will inform future release sites by helping us to understand the habitat preferences of rehabilitated servals.
A beautiful moment of freedom! The serval being released on Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve
THE IMPORTANCE OF SERVAL CONSERVATION EFFORTS
Despite their current population being relatively stable across the African continent, servals are “Near Threatened” nationally in South Africa and are classified as a Threatened and Protected Species (TOPS). They face numerous conservation challenges due to human activities.
According to the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), “effective conservation of serval depends on the conservation of wetlands, particularly wetlands in fragmented landscapes. Wetlands form an island habitat in a mosaic of farmland for several wetland-dependent species; they are reservoirs of small mammal populations that are major dietary components of servals. Consequently if wetlands are protected in a mosaic of farmland use, the landscape may support the persistence of serval populations.” This is exactly the habitat type now protected at our Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve, which was otherwise at risk of conversion to commerical farmland.
The journey of this young serval from rescue to release was made possible thanks to the dedicated team of expert rehabilitators at FreeMe Wildlife, and the protected habitat provided by Wild Tomorrow at the Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve. Through our combined efforts, a serval was given a second chance at life in the wild. The story of this serval's rehabilitation and release highlights one of the many roles we can play in wildlife conservation. Today, all species have extra pressures placed on them due to human impacts from habitat loss and fragmentation to climate change. By rescuing and rehabilitating injured or orphaned wildlife, we can help mitigate these overlapping impacts and create a hopeful future for threatened species.
NEXT STEPS FOR MORE SERVALS
FreeMe wildlife are hard at work rehabilitating 3 additional individual servals who will need wild homes in the coming months as they reach release age. We are raising funds to support the serval project including support for FreeMe for food and enrichment for the servals while in their care, and for the GPS tracking collars needed for post-release tracking.
We hope you will support the rehabilitation and release of servals in our region. You can choose how your donation is spent – you can donate to our Vet Care Fund to support rehabilitation costs at FreeMe Wildlife, or sponsor GPS tracking collars and monitoring by the Wild Tomorrow team.
