Dog lovers hunt for ‘puppy seller’

ANIMAL lovers have launched a city-wide search for a man who is allegedly selling puppies which he mutilates in order to get sympathy from potential customers.

A Facebook post offering a reward to anyone who finds the man went viral yesterday, garnering well over 1000 shares in less than 24 hours.

The reward offering began with one woman putting up R500 of her cash – but many others offered to add their contributions, and within hours the reward increased to R5000.

Commenters were outraged when it appeared the man had cut off a puppy’s paw in order to attract sympathy and solicit a sale.

Devon, who did not want his surname to be published out of safety concerns, helped rescue a mutilated puppy from the man on Thursday night. He received a call from his girlfriend, who works in Bree Street, saying there was a man selling a dog which desperately needed to get to a vet.

By the time he arrived, his girlfriend had the puppy and the seller had disappeared.

The puppy’s one hind foot was missing, leaving behind a raw stump.

“I took the dog to the vet, where they checked the stump out,” Devon said. “The vet said it’s either been chopped off or eaten by rats.

“I believe (the seller) cut it off for sympathy, so that people would buy it.”

The seller claimed that puppy’s foot was damaged by a car.

“The guy said he paid R1 000 to get it fixed,” Devon said.

“So he said he wanted R600 back for the dog and eventually they negotiated down to R200.”

It’s any animal lover’s instinct to try to remove a dog which has been maimed, but rescuing or buying animals in this situation does more harm than good, said Cape of Good Hope SPCA chief executive Mqabuko Ndukwana.

“We want the public to be aware of this,” he said.

Ndukwana urged the public to contact law enforcement immediately so that due legal process could be followed.

He said the SPCA was investigating the individual for three years and laid charges against him for other incidents in the past.