WATCH | Wildebeest chose two Jack Russells and a farm manager to spend her last days with

An ageing Mpumalanga black wildebeest named Biltong found a unique place and friends to spend the last weeks of her life.

Kevin Ruthven, 57, is the manager of a 15,000ha piece of conservation land between Middelburg and Loskopdam in Mpumalanga’s Olifantsrivier valley.

“We have a multitude of species, ranging from bushpigs, impalas, kudu, giraffes and leopards to wildebeest,” Ruthven said. 

He spends his days in the company of his two besties — social media favourites and bush adventurers — the Jack Russell dogs, Brood (bread) and Botter (butter).

“Brood was born without a tail. He is turning three in October. His girlfriend Botter will turn two in September. I’ve had both since they were six weeks old,” Ruthven said.

Three weeks ago, Ruthven and his four-legged furry friends received an interesting visitor.

“I am practising for a 50-mile race and one morning, I was outside practising early when I came across this ageing black wildebeest about 200m from my home,” Ruthven said.

“She looked lost and cold and, oh man, just old. She looked old. I was pulling on gloves while I was standing about 3m away and I just started talking to the old girl.”

Ruthven went for his run thinking that would be the last sighting of the wildebeest.

“That was not to be. That next morning, I was making coffee when I looked out the window and saw her lying a short distance from the house taking a nap. The next day she was even closer, right next to my bedroom window.”

It seemed that the ageing lady of the Mpumalanga veld had adopted Ruthven and his dogs.

“She stayed on the lawn and while nobody can tell exactly how old she is, a vet said she looks very old, but also said it is difficult to determine. Not just her age, but also whether she was ill.”

He believes she is a cow.

“Other people who know wildebeest better than I told me that you can see from her horns that she is a cow.”

Ruthven made a post on Facebook, sharing a picture of the old lady. The post received “about 20,000 likes”.

“In the comments, so many people said I should make biltong of her. I couldn’t do that. The closest to that was making her name Biltong,” Ruthven said.

For the next couple of weeks Biltong was a daily visitor.

“We gave her water and lucerne and just tried to make her last days comfortable. The last week she hardly left the lawn.”

Biltong soon became accustomed to Brood and Botter.

“She allowed them very close to her and Brood really wanted to play, but she never got that tame. She kept making eye contact. It really felt as if she just wanted to be close to us. Her herd probably chased her away because she was too old and weak.”

At one stage, Ruthven thought the Springboks women’s team had a budding new flyhalf in the making.

“She was curious about a rugby ball and at times it really looked like she wanted to play with it,” Ruthven laughed.

On Tuesday June 17, Biltong bid them a silent farewell.

“That was the last time we saw her. We have leopards and other predators. I suspect she felt her time was running out and she wanted a place to die. Last Tuesday she walked off down the gravel road and we haven’t seen her again.”

They have searched the area and found no sign of Biltong.

Biltong is not Brood and Botter’s only bovine friend.

“I have strange Jack Russels. We have quite a lot of antelope that like to come and feed from the lawn — the grass is green and soft. The dogs love them and don’t attack or bark.”

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