Plea to Bathurst dog owners to control pets

Specially bred goats injured, killed at research centre by stray animals

The Bathurst Ratepayers and Residents Association has urged residents to keep their dogs confined to their properties, or walk them on leashes.

This comes as more than two dozen specially bred goats from the Agricultural Research Centre (ARC) in Bathurst have been killed by dogs, and more have been maimed or crippled.

The centre’s manager Yanga Mkabile has opened three cases at the local police station since July, but there have been at least six incidents this year.

Mkabile said the incidents were becoming more frequent and they needed to stop.

The ARC is a satellite of the Eastern Cape department of rural development and agrarian reform’s Döhne Agricultural Development Institute near Stutterheim. The latter is famous for developing the Döhne Merino breed of sheep that was so successful it was exported to Australia, among other countries.

ARC has several research projects in progress and one of them is a goat breeding programme.

“We are looking for the most economical way for small-scale farmers to work with goats,” Mkabile said.

Underway at ARC in Bathurst is a complex breeding programme that is cross-breeding the SA-developed Boer goat with iMbuzis, also known as Ngunis, or veld goats. Imbuzi means goat in isiZulu, but it is also the name of a specific breed.

“The Imbuzis are incredibly hardy,” said Mkabile, who has been at ARC since 2007.

“We first brought them from Port St Johns and Lusikisiki in 2012.”

Already at that time, the highly invasive alien, lantana, which is poisonous to livestock, was creeping across the Bathurst landscape.

“It was no problem for the iMbuzis. They ate it, and unlike the Boer goats, which got very sick, the iMbuzis were fine!”

iMbuzis are also extremely protective of their young, Mkabile said.

“A Boer goat will give birth and then leave the baby while it goes and looks for food; but an iMbuzi won’t go anywhere until its baby is ready to go with it.”

A walk to the paddock for pregnant and birthing goats bears testimony to that: the iMbuzis glare suspiciously at us as they stand their ground and fuss over one, two or three dazed, wobbly legged kids.

Every goat is tagged according to a colour code, and numbered. Some are Imbuzis, some Boers and some are cross-breeds.

“Actually they shouldn’t be in this camp,” Mkabile said. “This is a grazing camp. Goats are browsers and we usually keep them in an enclosure with lots of bushes, over there across the road. But since the attacks, we’ve had to move them closer.”

The first time was on June 17. “The staff went to count the animals and they found two dogs in the camp, chasing the goats. They tried chasing them to see if they would go home and they could identify the owner, but the dogs disappeared into the bushes.”

Two goats were badly injured in the attack and had to be put down.

In July, the staff discovered two pitbulls in the camp.

“But they couldn’t go inside because they were scared the dogs would attack them.”

The owner was traced and he came to fetch his dogs, but not before they had done considerable damage.

“Four goats were already dead and the fifth one was so badly injured we had to put it down.”

The third incident was also in July. “It was a Saturday and I was called by the staff of Waters Meeting [Reserve]. They told me there were dogs in the camp chasing the goats.”

Mkabile went and tried to find the dogs, but they had left.

The fifth attack, on September