3 DOGS AND 6 BITCHES was born on the 22 nd of August. Photos to follow…

Go to The ‘B Team’ for more pic’s:

Mercury Magic Kennels had another excellent winning weekend:

“MercuryMagic Cascade Charmer “ ( AKA KUDU) received the following awards:

31 July  - Zululand Kennel Club

Judge: Mrs. Madeleine Griffin

CC winner,

Best puppy winner,

Best of Breed winner and

1^st in the puppy Group

01 Aug  - Northern Natal Kennel Club

Judge: Mrs. Connie Jarman

CC winner,

Best puppy winner,

Best of Breed winner and

4^th in the puppy Group

Note that this is his 1^st Champion show. He is the recue boy that will be our new star – Welcome home boy!!

Many Thanks to everyone who made this weekend possible!

Carlito X Inge : We are awaiting the arrival of the “D Team”. They are due on the 23rd of August.

Carlito X Shultz will be our “E TEAM” . One off these pups will stay at out kennel. Due the 27th of August.

Zingela sniffs out Panjo

Groblersdal – Panjo the AWOL tiger met his match on Wednesday night in the form of a Weimeraner dog specially trained to track predators.

Once he was spotted, the big cat ran back into the bushes but shortly after 20:00 his collar was back around his neck, after his “dad”, Goosey Fernandes, lured him out with a piece of meat.

An emotional Fernandes thanked the dog, Zingela, as well as everyone else who helped in the search, especially Johnson Mhlanga, a Shangaan tracker considered to be the best in Africa.

“The dog is a hero.”

Fernandes’ wife, Rose, said: “I’m very glad we finally found him. We want to thank the whole of South Africa for all their help.”

Panjo was loaded into the same bakkie from which he escaped on Monday evening while the Fernandes couple were driving back from their game farm, near Groblersdal, to their smallholding at Endicott, near Springs.

Based on a new tip, the search was moved to an area at the R25 near the Verena squatter camp, about 40km from Bronkhorstspruit.

Rikus Jansen, 23, said he saw the tiger there just after midnight while he was on his way home.

A calf

“At first I thought it was a calf, since a tiger is the last thing on earth I was expecting to see. He didn’t seem to be injured and calmly crossed the road. We stared at each other for a few minutes before he disappeared into the veld.”

Jansen reported the sighting to the Verena police station.

“This morning I was looking at Panjo’s photos in Beeld when Mr Fernandes phoned me.”

Mark Tennant from Animal Planet and his fellow tracker, Ian Johnson, immediately started searching in the area where Jansen had seen Panjo. At about 16:00 they found fresh tracks in the bushes.

Mhlanga as well as Conrad de Rosner and his dog, Zingela, from the Sabi Sands game reserve, were called in to help.

Meanwhile, an Altech Netstar helicopter and a Cessna aircraft with an infrared camera from Rotorway International flew over the area until sundown.

According to De Rosner, Zingela is trained to sniff out wounded predators.

KNP anti-poaching unit

“We’re part of the Kruger National Park’s anti-poaching unit. Zingela can follow tracks and pick up the tiger’s scent. He can even respond to a specific name, for instance, ‘search leopard’.

The Fernandes family have been inundated with people offering help from as far abroad as Britain, including offers of printed posters of the tiger’s photo and the use of two-way radios and megaphones. One supermarket even supplied food during the search.

Rose even received an SMS from a psychic who said that Panjo had injured his left shoulder when he fell out of the bakkie, and that he’s “hiding in an area with large rocks and short, yellow grass”.

There were several false alarms and people who tried to exploit the situation.

Goosey said he received calls from people demanding rewards because the tiger had supposedly devoured their animals.

R20 000

“One guy said: ‘Your cat has just killed three of my cattle. I’ve got him and I want R10 000.’

“I told him ‘I’ll give you R20 000, just keep him there,’ but then I wasn’t able to reach him again,” Fernandes said.

Dries Pienaar of the Mpumalanga parks and tourism council said they could find no record of Goosey’s claim that he has “all the paperwork” to have the tiger in the province.

This means Panjo may be confiscated and it could lead to a court case.

Goosey denies this. “I have permits for my tiger (from the) Mpumalanga parks authority. I have four tigers, not just the one.

“They’ll never take my cat away from me.”

Every one getting ready to start the day:

MercuryMagic Cascade Charmer – KUDU –Passed his  NSD.

MercuryMagic’s Bottom Line – Olga -Passed her NSD

MercuryMagic’s Blown Away – Maylie – Passed NSD and NRD. She was awarded with the “Retrieve of the day” – She did this in 52 sec flat!!

WELL DONE GIRL!!

Then we had our two babies there: Monsoon and Max  was the stars of the day. Both being under 6 months, they worked like fully trained Weimies and made the Kennel very proud. Watch this space fore these pups will be making waves in future!!

MercuryMagic Verca Monsoon –Soontjie –  Passed her NSD,NRD

MercuryMagic Verca Thunder – Max- passed his NSD