Dog owners warned to control animals after goat attacks
11, took place at night.
“So I didn’t see those dogs.”
It was terrible. Twelve goats were attacked: 11 were so badly injured, they had to be put down; one was dead when they found it.
The sixth attack took place on Heritage weekend . This time, Mkabile was called by a neighbour and seven goats had to be euthanased.
Mkabile said a meeting had been scheduled for later this week with some of the stakeholders, including the community safety directorate of Ndlambe Municipality.
Chair of the Bathurst Ratepayers and Residents Association Elizabeth Milne said she had been in conversation with ARC, municipal officials, SAPS and members of various groups in Bathurst, such as hikers, cyclists, dog walkers and equestrians.
“They are all complaining that [the situation of dogs getting out of people’s yards] is so bad that there are no-go streets in our village. The bylaws are clear and largely in line with similar legislation nationally,” Milne said. “You are responsible for keeping any animal you own confined to your property.
“If it escapes, however that happens, and causes any kind of nuisance or damage you are personally liable. The criminal charge in cases like this would be malicious damage to property. Civilly you would be liable for costs incurred or the value of goods destroyed. Liability rests on the shoulders of the errant dogs’ owners.
“Further, the bylaws require all dogs on public roads to be on leads at all times. If your dog is running loose and causes an accident, courts have been known to award damages to motorists whose cars have been damaged.”
SPCA chair Bryan Smith said: “The entities responsible for [animals that are a danger to people or other animals] are the municipality’s Community Protection Services and the
SAPS. The only time that the SPCA becomes involved is if the problem animals are brought to us by the municipality or SAPS for euthanasia.
“We are aware of the research facility animals being attacked because they came to speak to us. We directed them to the municipality and SAPS.”
Talk of the Town had not received a response from the police or Ndlambe Municipality at the time of publishing.
Why do they do it?
Talk of the Town asked veterinarian Dr Annie Mears why it is that dogs whose owners may know them as placid and non-aggressive towards other animals or people may behave completely differently outside their home territory. Here’s what she says:
“Dogs are fundamentally pack animals because they descended from wolves. They intrinsically learnt to work together to track, hunt and kill prey, these are instinctive behaviours that dogs are born with.
“These behaviours are then either encouraged by humans and the environment like in the case of dogs bred for hunting and protection or for example in stray dogs who have to form bonds for protection and food.
“In pet dogs we often discourage these instinctive behaviours like barking, chewing, biting, over exuberant play or aggression with other dogs. This is because they have no place in a home environment.
“Some dogs that are early socialised and trained around a large variety of different animals and livestock will always have a healthy respect and understanding of their place in the dog’s environment. Some breeds like border collies and Anatolian shepherds have been long bred to have good instincts to care for livestock.
“However, if these instincts are not nurtured or encouraged at a young age, even those breeds could be aggressive towards livestock under certain circumstances,” Mears said.
“It is fair to say that as soon as your dog is no longer under your immediate control or supervision, no guarantees can ever be made as to how the dog could or would respond to a new or different challenge or situation.”