Animal health authorities in Buffalo City Metro have described the recently concluded festive season as one of the worst in recent years due to the number of reported cases involving displaced pets and animal cruelty.
A total of nearly 40 misplaced dogs were brought to SPCA facilities in the metro following the fireworks during the New Year’s celebrations.
At the Qonce SPCA alone, a total of 26 cases were lodged of missing dogs on New Year’s night, with only eight handed over and kept at SPCA kennels. This is a small fraction of the 30 brought into the East London SPCA on December 31 and January 1.
Qonce SPCA manager Annette Rademeyer said some animals were still at large and only three of the eight had been claimed by their owners this week.
The 59-year-old has served the Qonce SPCA for nearly 30 years, training as an inspector and senior inspector, and serving as the Eastern Cape representative on the board of the NSPCA.
She said this year’s celebrations were terrible due to the “bomb” fire crackers being sold at informal markets.
“The fireworks were a nightmare,” Rademeyer said. “I would say it’s probably the worst Christmas we’ve had in the last 10 years. But I think the contributing factor to that was the big bombs that the malls were bringing in.
“Before it was people walking around with those rockets in the streets, but this time it was those huge explosions, which made it much, much worse. People didn’t stop on New Year, they went on after New Year, and even before Christmas they were letting off fireworks.”
She called for a total ban on the import and sale of fireworks.
“It’s illegal. It’s time now that we ban them. I’ve seen in other countries, they do drone displays, which are like lights and fireworks going off; it’s like holograms, but they don’t make sounds. So they’re pretty. You’ve got the lights, you’ve got the effect, you’ve got everything, but you don’t have those big explosions.”
Rademeyer said they medicated all the animals before the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations.
“We got medication from the vet and every single animal was medicated so that they would remain calm; it was like a tranquilliser for the fireworks, because otherwise they go crazy.”
East London SPCA general manager Brent Sanders said most of the stray animals who came to their facility were traumatised.
“It was due to the festive fireworks and most were traumatised and they would jump fences to try and hide and get away from that noise.”
Sanders said the majority of the animals had been claimed by their owners.
Throughout the festive season, a number of SPCA branches along the coastal regions received cases relating to animal cruelty, negligence and stock theft.
We’ve opened a criminal case against him.
— Brent Sanders, East London SPCA general manager
In the space of 20 days, the SPCA in BCM opened three criminal dockets for severe animal cruelty.
The cases include a Qonce man who was arrested for allegedly killing his dog by hanging and threatening bystanders with a knife. This was after the dog caught a pigeon the man had kept as a pet.
The man, who is yet to be identified, made his first appearance in the Qonce magistrate’s court on December 30.
“We’ve opened a docket, which we’ve registered with the police,” Rademeyer said. “We’re just waiting for the police to come back to us to let us know what’s happened, because now it’s in their hands. We’ve opened a criminal case against him.“
A case of stock theft and brutality was opened against a man who had the Achilles tendons of cattle hacked so they could not escape.
The cattle were jammed into a bakkie.
In Bell location, on the R72 towards Port Alfred, SPCA inspectors were called to save nine cats that were allegedly about to be drowned by their owner.
According to Rademeyer, the incident happened between Christmas and New Year.
“We got a phone call from the Port Alfred SPCA to say that the person was in Bhisho,” she said.
“We made some phone calls and found out that the person wasn’t in Bhisho; they were actually in Bell. So we didn’t want to waste time because normally when people threaten to hurt animals, they’re going to kill them or whatever, then they do it, especially with cats.
“We went through to Bell, found the lady, and she surrendered the nine cats to us. She was having problems with the neighbours apparently, which is why she didn’t want them anymore.
“She didn’t know what to do with them so she thought the best thing to do was to drown them.”
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