A lifeline for Houdini

Professional photography by Vanessa Bentley Photography

Professional advice, heroic handling, unwavering dedication – the perfect recipe for the safe capture of “Houdini Hound” and the chance for a better life.

In January 2022, Mandy Mockler, chair of the Bank Road Residents Association, was alerted to a stray and abandoned dog in the Rhema Church premises and her suburb by a resident who manages the feral cat colonies in the church’s premises. Alise Antrobus, owner of Cat Family Foundation, had become aware of this after noticing large paw prints on the cat colony’s damaged kennels and food stations.

Mockler set about watching the suburb’s security cameras to see if she could spot the unknown dog entering their suburb, which neighbours Rhema Church.

Bingo! On the first night of observation, she spotted a young black male Labrador dog entering the suburb from the back of the church. He was limping, and she knew that she couldn’t leave this poor dog to fend for itself and had to help him to safety and a better life off the streets.

She knew nothing about his background, so the residents advertised across social media for the owners to come forward. Sadly, nobody claimed him. This is where the epic journey to capture Houdini started…

Mockler and Nic Guilherme, a resident in the area, tried numerous times to catch the stray Labrador but were unsuccessful. They soon realised that this dog was absolutely terrified of humans, bolting blindly when a human approached him. They named him Houdini – after the world’s greatest escape artist, Harry Houdini.

“Our suburb is bordered by Hans Schoeman St, Rabie St and the N1 highway – we couldn’t be in a worse location when trying to capture a lost and terrified dog,” explained Mockler. “If it bolted onto one of these main arterial roads in fear, it could have been hit by a car or caused a terrible vehicle accident if a motorist swerved to avoid hitting the dog.”

She decided to call in the professionals to assist in capturing the petrified animal.

Thys Mulder, an expert trapper and trap designer and manufacturer, was the first to offer his assistance at no charge. He arrived on the scene with a dog trap on the 19^th of January 2022. The trap was placed in the Rhema grounds, stocked with delicious bait food, and the trap door set. The community waited in anticipation that night. The next morning, a resident contacted Mockler to inform her that he’d seen the dog in the trap and had lifted the trap door in error, allowing it to escape. 

After Houdini escaped the trap, they were unable to lure him back in, no matter what they baited it with – biltong, liver, pilchards, KFC, dry wors, Russian sausage, boerewors; you name it, they tried it.

They changed the location of the trap as well as swopping to a well-camouflaged baboon trap. However, after two weeks of Houdini refusing to enter the new trap, Mulder and Mockler decided that the capture wasn’t a normal domestic dog capture, rather a typical wildlife capture.

Guilherme, Nicolene Cloete, another resident, and Mockler monitored the security cameras all night nightly for three weeks and built up a very clear picture of Houdini’s routine and movements. They also set up a dedicated Houdini Sighting Hotline.

With all this information at hand, they called in Dirk Engelbrecht, CEO of Wild Serve. Engelbrecht is the most qualified and experienced wildlife capturer in the province. He agreed to assist Houdini and the community at no charge. 

He met the trapping team on-site one Sunday afternoon to discuss the way forward. Engelbrecht agreed that this was no longer a normal dog capture; Houdini was becoming more feral as time passed, and “it was only a matter of time before he was injured by a vehicle while crossing busy roads”.

Making a plan, custom-building enclosures

Engelbrecht suggested that a large enclosure be built inside the Rhema premises and that Houdini be fed inside the enclosure to get him comfortable with the large fenced space. Once he was comfortable eating in the enclosure, the trap doors could be installed.

Mockler requested a second enclosure be built in the park along the Rhema fence as Houdini also used a hole in that fence to access their suburb.

Quotes for the materials needed for the enclosures were received, and on the 1^st of February 2022, a plea for donations went out to the greater Bromhof, Boskruin and Randpark Ridge community. Mockler reported that “the response was overwhelming and within 24 hours, we’d raised a bit more than was originally needed.”

Within two days of receiving the funds, Mulder, Guilherme, Mockler and Mulder’s staff started the first build and by 8pm on Saturday the 5^th of February had completed the second build. This allowed them time to feed Houdini in the enclosures for three nights before the trap doors were fitted. Shomrim Security MD Marc Roberson sponsored a camera for the park enclosure.

Mockler said: “We stocked the enclosures with dog pellets and A-grade beef steak. It went according to plan, and Houdini pulled on the steak attached to the rope. That ‘pull’ is what we needed. The pull was going to activate the trap doors once they were installed.”

On Wednesday the 9^th of February, the trap doors were installed, tested several times, and activated perfectly. The key role players, Mockler, Mulder, Engelbrecht, Guilherme and Cloete, had a well thought out strategy and plan and were ready in position as the sun set. Cloete was manning the suburb’s cameras. Everything was ready for a safe and successful capture.

Houdini entered the suburb through the main entrance in Bank Rd at approximately 20h11. An alert went out to the team that he was heading towards the enclosure trap in the park. Mockler caught sight of him in the shadows, moving towards the enclosure. Within a few seconds of him entering the enclosure, she heard the trap doors slam closed. “I knew we had done this right!”

She was the first to reach the enclosure. “Houdini was barking and visibly upset that he was closed in,” she related. “Thys arrived quickly and calmed Houdini down.”

Mulder spent two hours inside the enclosure, building trust with Houdini. The transport container was moved inside the enclosure, ready to load Houdini for transportation to Manderston Kennels – the appointed Labrador Rescue kennels for dogs identified as needing rehabilitation and help. A team of on-site qualified animal behaviourists were ready to work with Houdini to rehabilitate and heal him.

A terrified Houdini lashes out

As Houdini was being herded towards the transport crate and was partly in the crate, the terrified dog lost control and, in fear, bit Mulder several times on the hands.

Mulder was taken to the emergency facility at Olivedale Clinic for stitches. Mockler and the rest of the team decided to halt the transport efforts for the night and call a vet in the morning to sedate the dog. “We were concerned that Houdini would be more stressed, and we had to make sure we were doing what was best for him.”

On Wednesday night, the trapping team camped in their vehicles in the park to monitor Houdini and attend to him if needed.

Residents cooked breakfast for and delivered coffee to the trapping team. Houdini shared their scrambled eggs, and Guilherme could feed Houdini out of his hand.

Mulder reassured everyone: “Houdini is not an aggressive dog. His biting was sparked out of terror and fear.”

Success at last

Dr Michael Sutton from the Muldersdrift Animal Clinic assisted by injecting Houdini with a sedative on Thursday morning, and the capture team was finally able to load him into the crate and transport him to Manderston Kennels in Olifantsfontein.

This was an epic, difficult and stressful capture, but it had such a happy ending. Houdini’s safe capture was made possible because a community leader, residents and all the professionals involved came together and worked as a cohesive team.

We’ll be following Houdini’s progress and rehabilitation closely.

“We need additional funds to cover Thys’s medical expenses and the vet’s bill. Dr Sutton kindly offered his time and travel for free, but we do have to pay for the drugs he used,” Mockler advised. 

“Furthermore, we’d like to make a decent donation to Wild Serve NPO to assist them with future wildlife captures and also do the same for Mulder to assist him in helping other less fortunate communities with trapping lost, abandoned and discarded animals.”

Donations can be made to the BRRA Resident Association:

Ashli Smukler of Labrador Rescue South Africa shares her side of Houdini’s story…

One afternoon, I received a frantic call from a Randpark Ridge resident and part-time Lab Rescue volunteer. She said: “Ashli, expect a call in the next five minutes from a lady named Mandy. They’ve been trying to catch a stray black Lab for days now.”

Within five minutes, I had Mandy on the phone relating the story. She said once Houdini was caught, they’d need a safe place for him. “We’re ready for him!” I said. “Whenever it may be, we will ensure there is a spot available.” Mandy advised that they’d placed a trap and were hoping to have him within the next few days. We waited and waited, and the next update from Mandy was to say they’d trapped him, but a resident let him out. I said: “Mandy, we’re here and waiting for whenever it happens.”

We waited and waited again. Days turned into weeks. Then I received an update from Mandy: “We’ve built an enclosure, tested it out, and think he’ll be trapped tonight.” Well, as true as bob, that night, just before 9pm, I got a call. I answered, saying: “You got him!” Mandy replied, “YES.” I couldn’t contain my excitement and relief. Mandy asked, “What now?” I advised that I’d call my kennel owner, Charlene, at Manderston Canine Academy, but thought it too late to bring Houdini in because I was worried about disturbing the other kennel dogs. But Charlene said: “Ashli, if they need to come now, we’ll open the kennels for them.”

Labrador Rescue outsources its kennel facility to Charlene Kruger, owner of Manderston Canine Academy. Charlene, her staff and the facility have been our lifeline, our rock and our greatest comfort for almost three years. They’re incredibly kind and amazing and are exceptional in rehabilitating desperate dogs in need. We’re so lucky to have this facility where we know our desperate Labs will have a safe haven, but her love for all animals is incredible. How she gets “broken” dogs to trust again and get rehomed is something we’ll never understand.

Houdini is a happier boy now and loves to be with the other dogs. From a dog that wouldn’t go near a human to a dog that, within just a few days, wags his tail and is comfortable with humans around him is the biggest reward for all of us. He still won’t let you touch him, but he does come to sit with us in the office. We’re giving him loads of time and reassurance.

Houdini will be staying with Lab Rescue for a while. We still have a lot of work to do with him. We’re requesting a sponsor for him, so we know that we have all the time we need to work on rehabilitating him. We have so much hope. One little step is the biggest leap for us.

Should you wish to sponsor Houdini, call 072 454 1066 or email ashli@labrescue.org.za.