Pretoria - From bark to bleat, grunt to neigh - it was all in this year’s work for the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
Numerous judges had to apply the law when it came to an array of four-legged subjects.
One of the most memorable was when a judge was confronted with a hairless cat fight, featuring Eros the expensive Sphynx.
Pretoria resident Alma van Zyl wanted her “little prince” back, but Bernadette Willers of Roodepoort insisted she had legally adopted Eros. The cat has been in Willers’ care since November 2012, but Van Zyl told the court she remained the owner of Eros and that she was entitled to a court order forcing Willers to return the cat to her.
Van Zyl instituted a counter claim, demanding R100000 in vet fees back if she had to return the cat.
She said she had asked a cat breeder to take care of Eros for a while, when he displayed emotional problems and she could not cope with him. She insisted this was a temporally measure and she never gave permission for the cat to be re-homed.
Even an animal behaviourist was called in to give an opinion to the court. Dr Jo Smith said at first Eros was a hissing and swatting cat, who may have been traumatised as a kitten. The case had to be postponed, as one of the key witnesses was abroad.
But this expensive cat fight is far from over, with Van Zyl’s advocate Brenton Geach saying they were awaiting a court date to continue the battle next year.
Noisy chickens and smelly rabbits also featured in court when a Midstream Estate businessman said that when he complained about his neighbour’s animals, he was badmouthed on Facebook.
Paul Hechter is suing Michelle Benade for R1.3million for damaging his reputation, after she allegedly referred to him as a Peeping Tom.
The problems started when he complained about her noisy chickens close to his bedroom window. She at last got rid of them, he said, but replaced them with about 60 “dirty rabbits”. This case is still ongoing.
For Cheeky the little Chihuahua, pictured above, things turned out fine this year, when a compassionate Judge Norman Davis gave him a lifeline.
His owner Carel de Jager was however warned that if as much as a squeak came out of Cheeky’s mouth outside his owner’s home at the Kranspoort township development outside Middelburg, the dog had to go.
De Jager was ordered to ensure that Cheeky never wandered outside the yard and should ideally remain inside the house.
The home owners’ association turned to court as the dog was said to bark and scare away the wild animals and birds roaming the tranquil landscape. They insisted Cheeky should go, as it was a pet-free zone.
The only reason De Jager was allowed to keep the dog was because he had emotional problems.
When De Jager got wind of the complaints, he tried to commit suicide by severing his manhood. He said he could simply not cope without his “only friend”.
The association then relented, but as Cheeky did not shut up, it eventually turned to court for an urgent order.
Meanwhile, Max the bull mastiff cost his master dearly this year after he bit a Faerie Glen woman who went on her daily walk through this suburb, east of Pretoria.
While dog owner Hermanus Bosman said it was not in his dog’snature to bite, his neighbour, Catherina Coppejans, was adamant that she minded her own business, when the dog stormed her as she walked down the street. Max bit her on the leg and she had to go to hospital. Bosman agreed to pay his neighbour R950000 in damages.
Horses were also the subject of a legal tussle this year, including a champion show jumper called
Spotty.com and a thoroughbred racehorse named Royal Chief.
In the case of Spotty.com, Lourraine Eyers of Eldoraigne said not only was her daughter a first-class show jumper destined for great heights with her horse, but she also dearly loved him.
Stable master Kim Jeffery, where the horse boarded, said she was owed R15000 in stable fees. She threatened to “ship-on” the horse.
Eyers rushed to court for an urgent order preventing this, but at the end Eyers agreed to pay the outstanding fees. This was made an order of court. Royal Chief’s legal battle is still ongoing, with racehorse breeder Angela Storm claiming the horse is hers. But Teegan van Basset Jong-
bloet and her father Andre, said Royal Chief belonged to them.
They said Storm only leased the horse from them and they now wanted him back.
Storm said the horse was now retired and settled in his life away from the racetrack. She admitted she refused to hand the horse over to the Jongbloets.
They, in turn, said they feared she would rather kill the horse than allow them to take him back.
Even pigs made it to court, with the SPCA complaining that a piggery in Vaalwater, Limpopo, ill treated its pigs. The South African Pork Producers Organisation wanted to know from the National SPCA who was the snitch who informed the animal watchdog about the cruelty. It wanted to take steps against the piggery.
The SPCA refused to divulge its sources and the organisation turned to court to force it to do so. The SPCA said if it did reveal its source, nobody would in future come forward to give them vital information.
Judge Hans Fabricius agreed and said the SPCA relied heavily on the public to assist it in the fight against animal abuse. The court also ensured that a troop of malnourished monkeys confiscated at a nursery in Muldersdrift, now had a happy home. They were relocated to a wildlife sanctuary following an order by Judge Johan Louw. This came after the animal rights group International Primate Rescue turned to court to have the moneys rescued.
And then there were the impounded nine goats, now happily reunited with their owner.
Ntombizodwa Mahlangu, a traditional healer and her pensioner husband Jeremia Mokoena rushed to the urgent court with the help of Lawyers for Human Rights, to get their goats back. Mahlangu, a traditional healer, said some clients paid her in goats. The farmer on whose farm they were living outside Bronkhorstspruit had the goats impounded for “trespassing”.
The pound master agreed to give the goats back, but insisted on fees. The court ruled the goats be immediately returned to the couple at no cost to them.