CAPE ARGUS (Cape Town, S Africa) 09 September 08 Big Mamma becomes an accident statistic on the bumpy road to love (John Yeld)
So near and yet so far. After an epic journey of 3.5km that involved crossing some of the city's busiest highways, Big Mamma made it to within 200m of her vital breeding destination - only to be flattened by a vehicle at the last moment.
Big Mamma was an endangered Western Leopard Toad (Amietophrynus pantherinus) which had been living in the conservation area in the centre of Gold Circle's Kenilworth racecourse.
She was originally found in a private garden in nearby lower Wynberg, but was transferred to the reserve earlier this year because she would be safer there.
Maya Beukes, reserve manager at Kenilworth, was delighted, because although there were records of this species in the area, very few had been seen in recent years and the location of their breeding sites were unknown.
By fitting Big Mama with a small tracking device and monitoring her movements more closely, conservation staff hoped to find out more about the toad population and so ensure their long-term survival in the Kenilworth area.
The toad was kept in captivity for about three months while tracking devices were imported from Britain. During this time, she began to fill with eggs.
Last month, the device was fitted on her back and she was released in the centre of the racecourse conservation area.
For several nights she was released and recaptured and then released again to determine whether her movements were calculated, habitual or random, said Beukes.
Each time Big Mamma was re-leased, she headed in the same direction, "which means that she managed to calculate exactly where she had to go."
And she was apparently determined to reach her destination, travelling between 500m and a kilometre each night - at between one and two metres a minute - through very rough, uneven and overgrown fynbos and kikuyu terrain.
"She crawled, climbed and conquered obstructions that had been previously believed to be impermeable to adult toads," said Beukes.
After her final release, Big Mama made her way across the racecourse, over both sets of three lanes of the M5 highway, across the degraded Youngsfield military base and then across busy Ottery Road.
"She was making her way down towards the Royal Cape Golf Club, where we'd already identified two breeding sites, when we lost her signal," said Beukes.
"We searched desperately for her for three days before we found her on the third night.
"Unfortunately, Big Mamma didn't make it to her breeding site to find a mate and release her eggs.
"She was found flattened by a car in the middle of a small side road bordering the golf club, only about 200m from her probable breeding site.
"Her story highlights the plight of the Western Leopard Toad and the incredible danger that this species faces," said Beukes.
Big Mamma becomes an accident statistic on the bumpy road to love