IOL says that the pet shop owner Emile Roos claimed that the SPCA had illegally raided his shop on two occasions in July and while he managed to get the search warrant for the first raid provisionally suspended, the SPCA returned with a second warrant and confiscated the reptile.
He says the creature was traumatised after being badly treated by inexperienced SPCA handlers - an allegation which the SPCA has denied. The association claims that it is unlawful for Roos to keep the animal and he will not be granted a permit to do so.
Acting Judge Johan Kruger - who heard the case on Friday, 2 September 2011 - says that the matter is not urgent and Roos can bring a normal application to the courts to have the reptile returned to him.
