Nightmare ends for baboon rescuers

IT was a case of “no good deed goes unpunished” for a Pretoria couple whose bid to rescue a baboon led to a seven-year legal nightmare.

On Friday, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) overturned three criminal convictions against husband and wife Colin and Theony MacRae and cleared them of all wrongdoing after they were found guilty of stealing a baboon.

The court found the “two perfectly peaceable citizens” had unnecessarily gone through hardship in a battle to clear their names after their good deed backfired.

The nightmare started in 2006, when the MacRaes were approached by conservation authorities to take in a baboon, which had been seized from its owner who did not have the necessary permit. None of the zoos was able to house the animals.

As the owners of a game lodge near Pretoria and the holders of a zoo permit, the couple happily accommodated the male baboon as a companion for their female baboon, Jessica.

But days later a conservation officer, together with a vet and members of the police’s flying squad, arrived at the lodge demanding the return of the animal. They claimed it had mistakenly been handed to the MacRaes.

But the MacRaes refused, convinced the baboon was theirs until its owner’s criminal matter was ished.

The couple were arrested and criminally charged. They were later convicted in the Cullinan Magistrate’s Court and given suspended sentences. An appeal to the high court in Pretoria failed, but they were victorious in the SCA last week.

The court criticised the conservation officers from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs for going overboard when they tried to reclaim the baboon – describing it as a “classic instance of bureaucratic overreach”.

“There was a genuine disagreement with the MacRaes over the sta-

fin- tus of the baboon. That did not warrant sending a convoy, including three armed police officers . . . The image is redolent of an American police drama,” Judge Malcolm Wallis said.

He found the MacRaes had acted in good faith and without criminal intent when they refused to hand over the baboon.

In a sad twist, the baboon burnt to death in a fire at his new shelter after he was removed from the MacRaes.

The charge of theft was “utterly misconceived” the court ultimately held, saying the toll on the MacRaes had been unduly harsh, and it had also wasted taxpayers’ money.