Animals seized in show-jumper’s zoo
A RAID on the Johannesburg home of a competition show-jumper found two Nile crocodiles living in his back yard and a menagerie of other animals, including meerkats, genets, ferrets, three veiled chameleons, a fennec fox, 25 African pygmy hedgehogs, a polecat, a kinkajou, a grey squirrel and 25 exotic snakes.
Some of the animals had no access to water, while others were found in ‘‘dirty and parasitic” conditions.
Jasyn Gertenbach, 26, has been competing in professional showjumping since he was a teenager and works at his family’s horse-riding academy in Kyalami.
He is due to face charges under animal protection and nature conservation legislation.
Gertenbach was allowed to keep some of the animals because their ‘‘physical conditions” were acceptable, but the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals removed the crocodiles, meerkats, genets, bushbabies, polecat, snouted cobra, ferrets and rats.
Inspector Arno de Klerk, who is with the NSPCA’s wildlife protection unit, said the condition of the pet rats was among the worst of the animals.
They were housed in dirty conditions with parasites covering their bodies.
“They were initially bred as feeder rodents for the snakes, but they weren’t being fed and were cannibalising the dead rats,” said De Klerk.
He said Gertenbach had no permits to house any of the animals.
Gertenbach was allowed to keep 25 FERRET exotic snakes, which included a corn snake, boa constrictor, Chinese spitting cobra, viper, anaconda and reticulated python.
The raid — following a tip-off — was a collaboration between the NSPCA unit, the enforcement and compliance branch of the Gauteng environmental management inspectorate and the police’s Endangered Species Unit.
Gertenbach “was co-operative and accepted full responsibility”, said De Klerk.
Gertenbach’s attorney, Nicole Mitchell, said the tip-off to the NSPCA had been made by a “disgruntled source” and was not due to any poor conditions.
“Jasyn rescued the majority of the wild animals he housed and any number of persons are able to verify that not only did he care immensely for these animals but they were well fed, watered and housed at all times. Jasyn was in the process of applying for a zoo permit,” she said.
De Klerk said they were often SNOUTED COBRA called to rescue exotic animals such as tigers and spider monkeys. “People want to have them as pets but they have no idea how to care for them,” he said.
“There are people all over Germiston, Boksburg and Nigel that have tigers as pets. It’s not illegal. We just deal with the welfare of the animal and if it is in good condition we can’t remove it. [But] it’s a wild animal and it’s ridiculous that people keep them as pets, claiming it’s for conservation purposes to save them from being killed in Asia,” he said.
On Tuesday, the NSPCA will appear before the Constitutional Court VEILED CHAMELEON to argue for the right to implement private prosecution.
Legislation allows only private persons — not organisations — to institute a private prosecution. The NSPCA wants the right to prosecute when the National Prosecuting Authority declines to prosecute animal cruelty cases.
In its heads of argument, the society says that when an act of cruelty is perpetrated on an animal, society as a whole suffers.
“The NSPCA individually suffers when people who commit cruelty to animals go unpunished. [It] frustrates the NSPCA . . . because the prosecution of past offenders has the effect of deterring the future conduct of would-be offenders.”
In response the Ministry of Justice, in its heads of argument, says the NSPCA has legal recourse to challenge a decision not to prosecute in a court of law.
“The correct approach for the applicant would be to lobby parliament to amend its legislation,” it says. ANACONDA BIG CAT: Jasyn Gertenbach’s profile picture on his Facebook page
There are people all over Germiston, Boksburg and Nigel who have tigers as pets