Our first Southern Aardwolves were captive-born on a private game-ranch in Namibia, from animals originating in South Africa and were imported in 1995. The species has been kept at Hamerton ever since, without break. We bred them in 1999 and hand-reared two pups; and are told that this was the first time the species had bred in the UK and the first time pups had been hand-reared in Europe.
Eastern Aardwolves arrived later. These were the survivors of an ill-fated import undertaken in Kent, and were in very poor condition when they arrived. They were expected to die, but managed to pull through and steadily improved. With no warning or any indication of breeding behaviour they produced a pup in 2015, which was found dead (uninjured, but having never suckled) the next day. Carnivores do sometimes fail with their first breeding attempt, so we were very optimistic for the future, but sadly breeding was never repeated. Our last two animals, a Southern male and an Eastern female which died this week after quick deterioration of age related problems, were almost 15 years old.
