Boy ‘starves’ dogs in cage
A Mossel Bay boy, aged about 11, apparently keeps dogs in a cage and deliberately starves them.
A reliable source, who chooses to remain anonymous, told the Mossel Bay Advertiser a dog was removed from a cage owned by the boy on 22 March.
The animal, bone-thin and covered in mange on its lower back, was taken to the Mossel Bay branch of the Garden Route SPCA, where it had to be euthanised to put it out of its misery. The boy was allegedly aggressive towards an adult who tried to rescue the dog and threatened violence to such an extent that police assistance was sought and the adult returned with two police officers. One of the officers held the boy while the dog was taken away and stood between the boy and the dog.
The boy allegedly said the dog was his and that he refused to feed it, and all it needed was iron supplements. A source has said this was not the first incident of that sort involving the boy. They said he was known to intentionally cage animals in order to starve them and didn’t even give them water, let alone food.
The boy lives with his grandmother in a wooden shack on a premises in Extension 8, near the Da Gamaskop Police Station. Two sisters also live
Iron supplements
on the premises in a separate wooden shack. It was the grandmother who told someone about the cruelty to the dog and asked them to take it away. It is uncertain why the grandmother or the others living on the premises did not have the dog removed earlier. When one of the sisters, who let the Mossel Bay
Advertiser on to the premises, was asked why she did not report the animal cruelty, she did not give an answer. The grandmother and boy were not home at that time. A girl who was at the premises when the Mossel Bay Advertiser visited, said the boy was 11 years old.
SPCA investigating
The SPCA is investigating a case of animal cruelty. SPCA trainee inspector Ruanlie Oosthuizen, who is assisting in the investigation, accompanied the Mossel Bay Advertiser.
One of the sisters living on the premises told the Mossel Bay
Advertiser the boy used to attend Diaz Primary School, but had dropped out of school a while ago.
The boy's parents both live in Mossel Bay. They do not live together. Seemingly they are not involved with each other.
Child Welfare
The name of the boy and his parents are known to the Mossel Bay Advertiser. The names were given to Child Welfare so that it can investigate the matter.
School principal
The Mossel Bay Advertiser called Diaz Primary principal Granville Briesies. He said the boy left the school at about the end of 2017. "He was a problem child and gave problems in and out of class. I can remember him as someone with big challenges.
“There were discipline problems during every school period.
"He was highly aggressive, with a short temper. We couldn't work out why he was like that. I wrote letters to the people he stays with because of his chronic behaviour problems and absenteeism. He eventually dropped out. We had to take him off our books. He was last at the school in November or December 2017. He was in Grade 4 in 2015, so I think he is about 12 years old now."
Briesies said none of the boy's parents or family had responded to the letters or come to the school.