Casper goes AWOL with Halfrieda
2010-10-25 23:42
Pretoria - Comedian Casper de Vries and his dog narrowly escaped spending a night behind bars.
"They made such a commotion one would think Interpol had issued a warrant for our arrest," De Vries joked on Monday about the incident at the OR Tambo airport in Kempton Park on Sunday afternoon.
De Vries took his new show, Caspernades, to Namibia at the weekend.
As usual, his assistant Bennie Basson also packed a few things for De Vries's German Shepherd, Halfrieda, so she could travel in the cargo hold in a carrier crate for dogs. She performs along with De Vries.
"When I left South Africa, a state vet examined her and said she could go.
"The same thing happened at the airport in Windhoek when we arrived and when we left.
"But when we came back to South Africa on an SAA flight operated by SA Express, for some reason there was no state vet available when Bennie wanted to bring out Halfrieda. I waited and waited... and waited.
"And waited. Then I decided I would get a job in Parliament so I can afford my own jet. After hours of waiting I asked if they could bring me the carrier crate. This was done."
After nearly four hours of waiting, De Vries and Basson decided they had had enough. "We took the dog and left. It was already dark and I was hungry and Halfrieda needed to piepie (go for a walk)."
On Monday morning De Vries was summoned to the airport by a very angry voice and told to bring Halfrieda along.
"I was afraid they would lock me up and put my dog to sleep.
"But all's well that ends well. Halfrieda and I are home again.
The state vet examined the dog on Monday morning and issued the documents allowing her to enter South Africa.
Fani Zulu, SAA's head of corporate affairs, said Halfrieda's life was never in any danger.
When Basson fetched the dog, he was told that he and De Vries would have to wait for the state vet.
"Mr Basson gave the impression that he was taking the dog outside to urinate, but never returned.
"He actually took the dog out of the building illegally, without the state vet's authorisation."
