NSPCA acts over shooting of dogs

CRIMINAL complaints have been laid against a deputy mayor and his bodyguards for the shooting – captured on video – of a dog tied to a pole in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

Mthonjaneni deputy mayor Philani Ntombela was filmed encouraging a man to shoot the wailing dog‚ several times‚ with a rifle in front of children near the town of Melmoth, in the Mthonjaneni area.

“That dog was terrorising everyone,” Ntombela had said in a previous interview. “It was eating people’s livestock and poultry and my goats.”

The owner of the dog had given consent for it to be shot, he said at the time.

But an investigation by the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) revealed yesterday that the incident was worse than initially reported.

An SPCA inspector visited the area and found a dog still alive – with multiple gunshot wounds.

“On closer analysis of the video‚ it came to light that four dogs were in fact shot‚” the NSPCA said.

“One dog was shot multiple times‚ another dog escaped wounded and two puppies were shot.

“One of the puppies was in the hands of a nineyear-old boy, and the shooter took the shot while it was still in the hands of the young boy.”

A witness also said there was no proof that the dogs had attacked roaming livestock. – TimesLIVE