Cape Town - In a gruesome display of anger some residents took matters into their own hands and set fire to three pit bulls, killing them after the dogs had attacked a young girl in a field near Gatesville in Athlone.
The child sustained severe injuries and had to be rushed to a nearby hospital.
The residents, particularly youth, were enraged, and in videos seen by the Cape Argus, battered the three dogs with bricks, stones and stabbed them while tied to the back of a car and hauled down the road before burning all three to death.
The SPCA said it would be laying criminal charges of animal cruelty against the dogs’ attackers in terms of the Animal Protection Act but they were still investigating the matter and reviewing video footage to identify the perpetrators.
SPCA chief inspector Jaco Pieterse said: “We are appealing to dog owners to take full accountability for their dogs and to make sure when they own a dog that it is safely confined to their premises and cannot escape and pose a risk to people or other animals.
“We blame the owners for these attacks as they have been negligent and did not have their dogs under control.”
The SPCA did not support the petition to ban or outlaw pit bulls but rather supported the motion to develop and implement stronger regulations/legislation on the keeping and breeding of power breed dogs.
This was the third dog attack over the weekend. A 3-year-old boy was killed by a dog in Hennenman, Free State on Sunday morning.
Police spokesperson Captain Stephen Thakeng said the boy was certified dead at the scene with severe injuries to his head and the dog was removed by its owner, but eventually was burnt to death by residents.
The attacks come after the Sizwe Kupelo Foundation, a non-profit organisation advocating for vulnerable children, started a petition to ban pit bulls as domestic animals in South Africa after a spate of attacks on children this year.
