Appeal to be opposed
READY TO FIGHT: GOVERNMENT SAYS REGULATIONS CRAFTED TO SAVE LIVES
While South Africans hunkered down during Level 4 lockdown, one of the worst cases of animal cruelty seen by North West-based Avontuur Veterinary Services was discovered.
A dog, since named Eddie, was found lying next to a train track in Groot Marico on 2 May.
The Samaritans who rescued Eddie brought him to Avontuur Vet on 4 May.
Eddie’s right front and left hind legs were crushed and rotting and he was severely malnourished, said Avontuur Vet’s Sanlie van den Brink.
Although it seemed euthanasia was the only option, Van den Brink and the Avontuur Vet team refused to give up.
“Since we have had success with two-legged dogs before, we decided to give him a chance and amputated his right front and left hind legs,” Van den Brink told The Citizen.
They still have no idea what happened to Eddie, but believe he must have belonged to someone because he seemed comfortable around people.
The surgery was a success, and Eddie was taken to the home of Van den Brink and Avontuur veterinarian Lizahn to recover.
In the process of getting Eddie back on his paws, they fell in love with him and have since decided to give him a home.
“He is the most loving dog, despite everything he has been through. He is doing extremely well.”
During his rehabilitation, Eddie had to learn to walk on two legs and adapt to his new life.
But despite Van den Brink having to do small things to make Eddie’s life easier, such as lifting his food while he eats, she said he gets stronger every day.
Eddie has even started to accompany his new family, including a dog with only three legs, on afternoon walks.
Avontuur Vet is in talks with Animal Care Division to get Eddie a brace to support his front leg, which is where he carries most of his weight.
Lockdown has not been kind to animals, with many reported abandonments and struggling shelters having to keep animals fed while keeping themselves safe from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Encouragingly, Van den Brink said Avontuur Vet has been busy because caring pet owners were picking up on problems faster than usual due to lockdown.
Group that wins case that lockdown regulations are unconstitutional is dissatisfied.
The group that took government to court and this week won a ruling declaring most of the Level 5 and 4 lockdown regulations unconstitutional and invalid is unhappy that the Cabinet will appeal the ruling.
The Liberty Fighters Network (LFN) said it had noted the news “with extreme dissatisfaction”.
It said LFN had not received any formal notice from the government of its intentions, but that it would still formulate a suitable response once the request for leave to appeal at the High Court in Pretoria had been scrutinised.
LFN president Reyno de Beer said it was ready to oppose any appeal attempt by the government and would accept any such challenge “as representatives for the people of our country”.
De Beer said LFN been “astounded by all the thanksgiving messages” it had received since the judgment, “not only from the people of South Africa, but also from across Africa and the United States of America”.
He said LFN had accepted its now “unofficial role as the delegate for the people of South Africa country during the time when all the political parties pledged their lockdown support to our clearly disorientated government”.
He said: “If a referendum could be called today, LFN believes the vast majority of the South African electorate would be voting in favour of a government submitting itself to a judgment which, we feel, to have been a very fair and just assessment of the South African reality under lockdown. “Instead of bringing its regulations in line with our constitution and end the ongoing abuses of human rights, government appears to have chosen a path of a rather weird resistance.
“If this, our government, was indeed a government by the people and for the people, you would not be reading this. you all
“Thank support.”
Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu on Thursday said the government was confident about the prospects of its appeal of the high court ruling.
He was briefing the media on for your outcomes of a special Cabinet meeting convened to deal with the judgment.
Cabinet was concerned about it, hence the decision to take the matter on appeal.
He said Cabinet believed the government had been transparent on the regulations and what informed decisions during the lockdown and had not done anything justifying the adverse high court judgment.
Cabinet was “very confident” that all lockdown levels “were crafted to save lives ... that’s what we were about”.
A number of public commentators and the World Health Organisation had applauded the government for the steps it had taken to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
They allowed for the slowing down of the infection rate and gave the country’s hospitals time to prepare and be ready for the “inevitable spike” of the pandemic infections, Mthembu said.
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Government appears to have chosen a path of rather weird resistance