[imagesource:flickr]

This man’s escape from justice was as wild as the illegal animals he kept in his house.

Marius Joubert worked as a security officer but was due to appear in the Hennenman Magistrate’s Court on April 5 to face charges of burglary and theft, according to Captain Stephen Thakeng, the police spokesperson in the Free State.

While in custody in March, the 28-year-old man offered to point out more items stolen during the housebreaking and theft in which he was a suspect, per The Citizen.

Not knowing that Marius had plotted his elaborate escape from the clutches of justice, the investigator booked him out from police custody, cuffed his hands and feet, and took him to his house in Hennenman.

At the house, they let his hands loose so that he could point out the stolen items, but then he suddenly shoved his hands into two different cages containing dangerous snakes.

Joubert was bitten by both snakes. The investigator called an ambulance, but Joubert refused treatment.

Image: Facebook/Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital

Once Joubert was taken back to the police station and released on a warning to appear in court on 5 April, another ambulance was called and he was taken to the Katleho Hospital in Virginia and then transferred to the Bongani Hospital in Welkom.

But, perhaps just as he had hoped, Marius Joubert succumbed to the snakebites and died.

Image: Facebook

Meanwhile, several illegally kept indigenous and exotic animals were slowly starving to death in his house. The Bloemfontein SPCA received an appeal for assistance from the local conservation authority. When Reinet Meyer, chief inspector of the Bloemfontein SPCA, opened the door to a house in Hennenman, he discovered 70 illegally kept wild animals, including several snakes, in crisis.

Unfortunately, a few animals had already died from starvation and dehydration, but over 60 animals were still alive and in need of rescue, the SPCA said in a statement.

The rescue was no easy feat, as a majority of them were highly venomous snakes – two of which had freed themselves by killing their owner.

Eventually, all the animals were caught and crated by experienced snake handlers, where they were then rushed to the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital for emergency treatment by the Virginia and Bloemfontein SPCAs.

What an ordeal.

The international trade in reptiles, amphibians and arachnids is unregulated, often unlawful, and an ever-growing industry in South Africa, according to the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital.

Unlike the more popular species such as wild cats and primates, reptiles are lower on the ladder of care and consequently afforded less conservation attention.

Being so cheap, they are also easily replaceable, with at least 50% of animals being wild-caught or poached and then laundered as captive-bred into the exotic wildlife trade. This is a huge threat to biodiversity and conservation, and anybody who dares stick their hand in their cage.

[source:citizen]