SPCA officers aghast at ‘house of horrors’

More than 20 dog carcasses found in woman’s house

THE stench of death greeted SPCA inspectors this week as they picked their way between rotting carcasses to rescue 80 dogs in what the organisation says was one of the most horrific incidents they have attended.

“The inspectors were unprepared for what faced them when they arrived at a Clare Estate house (in Durban) to execute a warrant of seizure,” said Caroline Smith, general manager of the Durban and Coast SPCA.

“They found a house of horrors. They were first hit by the stench of rotting corpses, debris, filth and dog faeces. They found more than 80 dogs, some barely clinging to life and others riddled with parasites, disease and injuries. There was no trace of food or water for the animals.”

When the Independent on Saturday, the Weekend Argus’s sister newspaper, arrived, piles of raw meat had been left uncovered outside the gate. Several SPCA vans were being loaded with dogs and a senior inspector was in tears.

The woman who owns the dogs, who did not wish to be identified, said she had been unfairly targeted and knew the names of every animal on her property.

A neighbour who did not want to be named said they had repeatedly complained to the police about the dogs and the woman.

“It’s very sad, she keeps to herself but the dogs are not in a good state. People always drop off meat at her house. She said she had between 50 to 60 dogs but we know there are more,” said the neighbour.

In total, 80 dogs were rescued and more than 20 carcasses of dogs were found inside the house, including the owner’s bedroom and en-suite bathroom, said Smith.

“They were either completely decomposed and now skeletons, or decomposing. Some had clearly only died a couple of days prior to the raid. The animals’ living conditions, their prolonged suffering and deaths, had a profound, traumatising effect on our team. Never in memory has any more horrific scene been dealt with by our inspectorate,” she said.

“Investigations revealed that the owner allegedly takes in unwanted and stray animals from the community. I would like to send out a very clear message to members of the public who are simply handing over animals to people to care for and rescue. Dogs were left to die slow, painful deaths without veterinary treatment. I implore people to hand over unwanted and stray animals to their local SPCA so that they can be dealt with in the best interests of the animals.”

She said they would prosecute the woman under the Animals Protection Act. However, the woman said the dogs were “her children” and that she was pursuing legal action to get them back. She alleged she had been reported to the SPCA by individuals involved in land invasions who wished to remove her from her property.

She said the dead animals had been poisoned by people who wanted to hurt her and that she had been preserving some carcasses for tissue samples to be used in a police investigation.

Satish Dhupelia, communications officer of the Sydenham community policing forum, confirmed that there had been incidents of land invasion in the vicinity.