Robben Island closes

THE Robben Island Museum will shut for two weeks beginning November 1, announced the heritage site’s council yesterday.

The tourism hot spot, just off the coast of Cape Town, will be temporarily closed to carry out maintenance and much-needed improvements. These projects include the repair and replacement of tour busses, the refurbishment of vessels and the management of the invasive rabbit population on the island.

Seelan Naidoo, interim ceo of the Robben Island Museum Council, said in a statement: “Following an intensive consultation process initiated by the Robben Island Museum that included the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, the State Vet and Cape Nature, immediate action will be taken to avert an ecological crisis on the Island as a result of rabbit overpopulation.”

The rabbit population has been troublesome and in particular, harmful to all natural vegetation on the island. This problem has led to the undernourishment of other animal species on the island.

A small population of the rabbits will be controlled with a sterilisation programme, while a number of the rabbits will be “humanely culled”.

“The decision to cull the animals was a very difficult one, however, there are no other alternatives available to restore ecological balance on Robben Island and to save important heritage sites from further degradation,” said Naidoo.

Robben Island has not offered any further information on the matter for the time being.