A tiny KuGompo City stowaway has completed an unlikely 2,000km adventure to Johannesburg and back — including a flight home, an airline rejection and a champagne brunch thrown in his honour.
Shell-Vis Presley, a hermit crab barely the size of a thumb, was safely returned to the shores of Kidd’s Beach on Saturday after his accidental trip inland sparked a rescue effort involving animal welfare organisations, conservationists, residents and an airline.
His adventure began when a family visiting the area picked up what they thought was an empty shell as a souvenir.
It wasn’t.
Tucked inside was a hermit crab who consequently found himself transported from the Eastern Cape coast to Randburg in Gauteng — decidedly unsuitable territory for a sea creature.
When his presence was discovered, the family took him to the Randburg SPCA, which sought advice from wildlife and conservation experts, who advised that the unexpected traveller needed to be returned to his natural habitat.
Getting a crab nearly 1,000km home, however, proved more complicated than expected.
As word of Shell-Vis’s predicament spread online, Sheila Klinkrout volunteered to accompany him back to the Eastern Cape on a flight on Friday.
There was just one problem: the airline she was booked to travel on said no.
Its animal transport policy meant Shell-Vis could not board, leaving his supporters with a very small passenger stranded almost 1,000km from the sea.
Kidd’s Beach resident and Dispatch Local Heroes nominee Tracy Taylor joined efforts to find another way to bring him home.
The growing publicity surrounding Shell-Vis’s plight eventually caught the attention of Airlink, which stepped in to arrange his journey back.
After consulting wildlife and exotic relocation experts about how he should be transported, the airline handled the necessary arrangements and flew its diminutive passenger home at no cost.
“Shell-vis Presley has left the building!” SPCA Randburg posted on Friday afternoon.
Taylor collected him at King Phalo Airport before the well-travelled crab was returned to Kidd’s Beach.
“We released him this morning,” Taylor said on Saturday.
“We just had breakfast at the Kidd’s Beach Tea Room and we’ve checked up on him as well to make sure that he’s still around and we’ve been to check in, so we’re just monitoring him for a little while.”
The SPCA announced the successful release on social media.
“After an unexpected holiday in Johannesburg, our tiny celebrity, Shell-Vis Presley, has officially returned to Kidd’s Beach in the Eastern Cape, where he belongs,” it said, sharing a video of his return to the ocean.
Taylor said: “Airlink stepped up and they arranged everything on their side, with all the papers and everything like that.
“Originally, Sheila Klinkrout had volunteered to bring him down when she was flying down on Friday afternoon with [another airline], but then [the airline] refused our application to have him board the plane with her.
“Then Airlink, because of all the coverage that the story got, stepped up and said that they would take him on and they made all the arrangements.
“Airlink did the transport at their own cost and made sure that he was delivered safely, boarded and transported safely,” Taylor said.
Environmentalist Kevin Cole said Shell-Vis’s adventure and the efforts to return him carried a broader message about people’s relationship with the natural world.
“No matter how small or seemingly insignificant an animal may be, the effort made to return this crab to its natural habitat reminds us of our connection to the natural world,” Cole said.
“Taking the time to return this creature to where it belongs also reminds us of our responsibility towards all creatures.
“Whether it’s a crab, an elephant or a lion, no matter how big or small, it makes us think about our connection to nature and all the creatures that live in it.”
Shell-Vis’s supporters were not about to let his homecoming pass without ceremony.
A champagne brunch was held at Kidd’s Beach on Saturday to celebrate his release, bringing to an end an adventure that had taken the tiny crab from an Eastern Cape beach to Johannesburg and back again.
After almost 2,000km of unintended travel, two airlines, a social media campaign and rather more attention than the average hermit crab can expect in a lifetime, Shell-Vis had finally left the building — and returned to the beach.
Daily Dispatch
