WE'RE COMING HOME MOM
As a result of an application to the Supreme Court brought by the
Kalahari Raptor Centre against the Northern Cape Nature Conservation
department, the three young caracals (they are no longer kittens) will
be returned to the Kalahari Raptor Centre.
Exactly one week ago on
Friday 8th December, a convoy of Nature Conservation officials and South
African Policemen including the video unit of the SAP descended on the KRC in a cloud of Kalahari dust, in order to confiscate the three
caracals. Before allowing the convoy to enter the property, Chris Mercer
read out a list of warnings to the effect that the warrant of search and
seizure was invalid, that the criminal charges were an abuse of the
process of the law, that the confiscation was illegal and that the
Supreme Court would be approached for relief forthwith.
The invaders
were made to sign that they had understood the warning, after which they
entered the private nature reserve in which the KRC is situated,
captured the caracals over a stressful two-hour period, and removed them
to Bloemfontein Zoo. During the capture of the caracals, Beverley Pervan
who runs the Centre with Mercer, begged the Nature Conservation
officials to have some regard for the welfare of the animals and abandon
the whole exercise. She then became so upset at the stress caused to her
animals during capture that the Veterinary Surgeon had to comfort her.
Here are the terms of the settlement which was made an order of Court on
Friday 15 December.
1. No order will be moved for in regard to the validity of the search
warrant.
2. The department of Northern Cape Nature Conservation will return the
three caracals into the care of the Kalahari Raptor Centre by not later
than Tuesday the 19th December 2000.
3. The return of the three caracals from Bloemfontein to the Kalahari
Raptor Centre will be carried out at the expense of the Northern Cape
Nature Conservation department.
4. The caracals will remain at the KRC until either the outcome of a
criminal prosecution against the KRC for keeping the caracal or the
release of the caracal back into the wild whichever occurs first. The
Northern Cape Nature Conservation department will be entitled to approve
the release site but its approval shall not unreasonably be withheld.
5. The KRC agrees not to claim damages against the department in respect
of the alleged unlawful seizure of the caracals.
6. Each party will bear its own costs
Go on to
Meatout 2001
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17 December 2000 Issue
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