It wasn’t just luggage in the back seat — a tiny galago, or “lesser bush baby,” managed to sneak into a traveller’s vehicle and ended up far from home before being safely returned.
“Maurice”, as he was dubbed, was found hidden in the belongings of a Cape Town man, who had returned from Johannesburg.
Cape of Good Hope (CoGH) SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abraham said: “While unloading cooler boxes, folding chairs and baggage, following a 1 400 km trip from Johannesburg, a Cape Town man found himself staring at something he had definitely not packed. And it stared back at him with big, round, rather bewildered eyes.
“The tiny little hitchhiker was a lesser bush baby, and he was very far from home.”
She said the bush baby was immediately taken to CoGH SPCA’s Wildlife Unit, where the veterinary team gave him a full check-up.
“Apart from a slightly-confused expression and an appetite to match his energy he was in excellent health,” said Abraham. “But there was a serious problem. Lesser bush babies do not naturally occur in Cape Town. Maurice was the only one of his kind in the Mother City, separated from his home and his family by more than a thousand kilometres.”
She said in the interests of conservation and protection of South Africa’s natural heritage he was sent back home; he touched down safely in Johannesburg and was due to rejoin his family.
According to Abraham bush babies have a curious form of territory marking by urinating into their cupped hands and marking what’s theirs.
“Go well, Maurice, and thank you for bringing us all together in compassion, generosity and national pride,” said Abraham.
She said when animals such as Maurice are accidentally transported outside their natural range releasing them into unfamiliar habitats is dangerous.
