Cape Town - Yet another unusual creature has been found deceased on one of Cape Town’s beaches.
While taking her usual morning beach stroll along Melkbosstrand Beach at about 7am on Tuesday, Melkbosstrand resident Cornelia Jansen came across the peculiar sight of a dead porcupine that washed ashore.
Jansen said: “We have seen porcupines before in Melkbosstrand, typically along the road and at night, but this is the first time in my 17 years of living here and frequenting the beach that I have found one deceased on the beach.
“At first I thought it was sea plants that had washed ashore.”
Jansen, who lives close to Koeberg Nature Reserve, said she found the porcupine close to Koeberg, near Van Riebeeckstrand.
This comes less than a week after a beached aardvark was discovered on Sunset Beach in Milnerton on Friday, January 13.
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA was informed of the animal, an autopsy was arranged to determine its cause of death and an independent wildlife veterinarian concluded that the aardvark was already dead when it went into the water, so it was either dumped overboard a ship close to shore or was somehow put into the sea from land.
The SPCA has since reported that, according to a post-mortem, the animal suffered heart failure and had fluid on her lungs.
The female aardvark, however, showed no signs of external trauma.
The SPCA inspectorate team said the porcupine carcass was handed over to the SPCA for a post-mortem but it was too early to speculate where the porcupine came from or how it ended up on the beach.
The suspicions among residents that these recent incidents of beached animals could be related to the illegal trade in African animals was one of several theories. The SPCA said each case had its own unique set of facts and history, which they were investigating individually.
The inspectorate team said: “At this point, we want to guard against pointing fingers until we have all the facts and can draw a sound and factual conclusion.”
Cape of Good Hope SPCA spokesperson Marisol Gutierrez added: “It’s important to guard against misinformation. We appeal to members of the public to contact us if they know anything about these cases, or if they have any leads – email [email protected] or phone 021 700 4158/9.”