Simon's Town Travel Forum

Hi Folks, does anyone know what happened to the border collie who was living wild in the hills above the town during December 2005. Hundreds of people offered her a home but nobody could catch her.You never know, she could end up with her statue next to Just Nuisance

Would that be a black (with little white) collie? Because on Thursday morning I saw such a collie on Ou Kaapse Weg (above Muizenberg) collecting some roadkill between the traffic. I thought that the collie was very streetwise and in a very unusual spot for a domestic pet. It might be the same one that you are talking about. Hadn't heard the story of a collie before you mentioned it now.

Heard a bit on 567 CapeTalk radio this afternoon.

The dog's owner has been given till the end of this week to capture it, or else the nature conversation officials will do it. The people daily placing food for the dog had all sorts of excuses about not not being able to secure the property over the Xmas holiday because they couldn't get contractors to erect fences and build a stone wall. They are planning to dope the food before a capture attempt.

So, the dog I saw last week is not the same one - too far away. My take on listening to the person phoning in to the radio show was that a property developer had tried to whip up public sympathy for a dog that they had neglected to look after?

A newspaper report today made it clearer. My perception, from the radio interview, of a property developer neglecting the dog was all wrong.

Apparently the dog has been on the mountain for about 5 years already. The National Parks authorities had threatened to "take care of the problem" by November last year. Then an organisation called TEARS offered to capture the dog and take care of it. The new (mountainside)home first had to be dog-proofed and current building work had to be completed. National Parks co-operated and extended their deadline till the end of this week. TEARS have made friends with the dog over the last few weeks and it willingly accepts their daily food and water, but it won't allow itself to be touched.

Last night's paper said that the first drug attempt failed.

Hello Gerald, Thanks very much for all the information, I certainly did not know she had been there for five years. It was just something that grabbed our attention, bit like the recent whale in the Thames.

The wild border collie is no longer wild. One year later and he tries to share the bed of his "owner". But he only goes inside if the doors stay open - he insists on an escape route.