Five people accused of stripping feathers off live ostriches appeared in the Oudtshoorn Magistrate’s Court last week, Western Cape police said.
A Sowetan report quotes Captain Malcolm Pojie who said André Prinsloo (21), Jakobus November (28), Karel Jansen (35), Jonas Jansen (25) and Dawid Piedt (31) would be back in court on 19 April. They remained in custody. They were arrested in Oudtshoorn last Monday morning in connection with five cases of the alleged theft of ostrich feathers worth R117 000, since December, said Pojie. Two of them faced additional charges of theft for possession of stolen chainsaws and a drill. Pojie said that the police would oppose any applications for bail by the five.
Disaster has again struck the multimillion-rand ostrich industry which is slowly recovering from a crippling avian influenza outbreak which reared its head two years ago. A report on the IoL site notes that ostriches from a farm near Oudtshoorn have tested positive for the flu again. Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Gerrit van Rensburg said an intensive epidemiological investigation had been launched into the bird flu outbreak. As a precautionary measure, the birds on the affected farm and in a 3km radius were under quarantine. The industry suffered from an export ban imposed on SA ostrich meat in April 2011 after an outbreak of avian flu. The report notes that 50% of ostrich farmers have left the industry because of the export ban and subsequent job losses.
