Site-and-Service Plots for Hundreds of Baboon Spiders. (21 November, 1996)

At least 400 baboon spiders and 800 scorpions, part of a confiscated consignment bound for the United States, have been released near Hoedspruit in Mpumalanga by the National Council of SPCAs. The spiders and scorpions had been housed and treated at Pretoria Zoo after they were saved from almost certain death, together with their reptile companions, after they were left behind at Johannesburg International Airport on November 5. It is believed they were en route from a reptile farm in Mozambique to Florida, US, as part of an international animal trade deal, but authorities have still not been able to track down the culprits who left the reptiles behind.

An assortment of chameleons, snakes, lizards, tortoises, spiders and scorpions formed the consignment, but as many as 200 of the creatures died of suffocation and stress from the way they were packaged, said the SPCA. Nature conservation officer Niel Fraser from the SPCA's special projects unit accompanied the spider and scorpion safari and assisted in releasing them into the Hoedspruit region, which is their natural habitat. 'Each spider needed special attention. We had to dig holes at least 1 m apart in which only one spider was placed. The scorpions had to be released in a rocky area,' Fraser said. Courtesy of The Star.