Queen

As you may have realized our new logo has changed. Even if our image has changed, the star of it remains the same. Who is this bird in Moholo’s logo? Why is it so special you may ask? This bird is Queen our magnificent crowned eagle. When the Rehab began back in 1990 she was one of the “founding” animals that came along with Brian and Jenny from Natal.

Queen was hand raised and trained as a falconry bird for 8 years after which she turned very aggressive. She killed 3 dogs and injured the falconer’s wife and 2 other falconers. After this she was confined into a small cage. She was rescued and brought to us around 26 years ago. Brian’s son took her over and he had such a knack with birds she followed him around even chirping like a chicken. Charles soon left for the army for a year and so Queen very offended turned to Brian who was now bringing her food every day and now took comfort in his company.

As part of our awareness program we enhanced her choice and with the right permits and using the birds cainisim (killing of a nesting bird by a nest mate), we supplied her with fertile eggs taken from the wild, for her to incubate. She then raised 7 chicks; 6 of them were released into the wild and one of them was sent to a bird show in Cape Town. After this we decided to stop giving her fertile eggs as there is nowhere to put them back as their habitat is disappearing fast and there was the question of “will they survive”. After this she has laid another 7 infertile eggs and she’s currently on her 8^th time. Since her eggs are infertile they rot and pop after 60 days of incubation.

She is not only our logo, but also our species’ ambassador as she’s part of our awareness and educational program, travelling with us to many educational venues.