Fiona Macleod
The next time you raise your glass to Bacchus, ponder this: you may be poisoning yourself with the remains of chameleons which get mulched in the wine-making process.
The organisers of a campaign to save chameleons in the Western Cape say they are being decimated by mechanical harvesters which have been imported from France and Italy.
“The harvesters use vibration to shake the grapes from their stalks,” says campaign leader Matt Louwrens. “Chameleons which are present in many vineyards cannot cling to the vines and are harvested along with the grapes.”
Phillip Kubukeli, president of the Western Cape Traditional Doctors, Herbalists and Spiritual Healers’ Association, says wine contaminated by chameleons is poisonous to humans.
Khayelitsha residents, who are taking his warning seriously, were planning to protest outside Stellenbosch Farmers Winery this week. Students from the University of Stellenbosch and members of the Food and Allied Workers’ Union planned to join the picket.
The union supports the campaign as the imported mechanical harvesters have deprived some members of their livelihood. “Hand-picking grapes is not only more environmentally friendly but creates more work,” says Louwrens.
He is calling for the arrest and prosecution of manufacturers who are using mechanical harvesters. He points out that, according to Cape provincial regulations, it is illegal to “sell anything manufactured from the carcass of any endangered wild animal” without a permit.
“Cape dwarf chameleons are among the species being decimated by the harvesters. They are listed on Appendix II by Cites [the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species], which means they are endangered and threatened with extinction unless subject to strict regulation.”
Louwrens has collected hundreds of signatures for a petition against mechanical harvesting. “Quite apart from anything else,” he says, “chameleons are of benefit to the vineyards in terms of insect control, so they should be nurtured rather than wiped out.”
Stellenbosch Farmers Winery’s Andr Steyn says his organisation does not use mechanical harvesters, though it may have to do so in the future. “There’s no evidence I can find of any chameleons being found in harvesters,” he says, “but if it is so, we would be alarmed because we wouldn’t want them in our wine crushers.
“The industry is moving on to more natural viticultural practices. If the evidence shows that chameleons are a problem, we would have to take notice of it.”