CRUEL LOSS
Poacher’s trap kills pet dog in suburban area
IT was at about 3am on Tuesday when Kristen Waters and Kim van Zyl found their 18-month-old dog, Peanut, behind the small complex in which they live off Beach Road, his front left paw caught in a metal trap.
“I was so upset,” said a visibly shaken Waters.
“We searched for over an hour before we found him.”
Waters and Van Zyl had been finishing their shift and cashing up at the Tab on Wharf Street and only arrived home at around 2am.
“As there are no cars about at that time of the morning we usually let the dogs run around a little before going to bed. But we couldn’t find Peanut anywhere, even though we called to him,” explained Waters.
They put the leash on their other dog, Storm, also still a puppy, so they could continue their search, and were almost dragged to the place where Peanut lay, bleeding from his mouth and with his front paw caught in the trap. Waters picked the dog up and, still with the metal trap and chain attached to his leg, walked him back to their flat.
“He was still breathing, but barely,” Waters explained. “I felt the life leave his little body as I carried him back home.”
Earlier during their search the couple had seen a man they know sitting close to where they eventually found Peanut, and he had told them to look at the other end of the complex. They suspect this might have been the man who laid the trap in the first place.
Back at home the couple called the SPCA to find out what to do next and were told to call the police as well as the community protection services directorate of the municipality and report the incident. This they did and, by 11am on Tuesday morning both the police and the municipality were on the scene.
In the meantime, they had taken the now lifeless puppy to PA Vet’s Leon de Bruyn to have the trap removed.
Commenting on the blood apparently coming from the puppy’s mouth, Waters said De Bruyn stated that this sometimes happens when an animal is caught in a trap and was a sign of shock.
“We had thought that someone had perhaps kicked the dog in the face to keep it quiet,” said Waters.
“It is [at least] good to know that might not have been the case.” De Bruyn’s practice confirmed that he would perform a post-mortem examination on Tuesday afternoon to ascertain the exact cause of death.
SPCA chairman Derick Kleynhans, said inspector Anel Slabbert would attend to the matter when she returned from holiday next week.
He added that this was a despicable act perpetrated by a person who had no feelings or sensibilities when it came to the lives and safety of animals.
“I am disgusted,” said Kleynhans.
“Trapping animals in this way, and particularly in a complex in a residential area where animals and children play is not just illegal, it is unethical and reprehensible.”
Provincial SAPS spokeswoman Captain Mali Govender was contacted for comment and she responded that she would find out the police’s position on the incident and report back.