Bull suffers before being slaughtered
On Friday evening, April 25, JSPCA and Mondeor SAPS were called to a house on the corner of Norwich Avenue and Branston Road, Mulbarton at about 19:00.
MULBARTON – Neighbours had complained about a resident who had a bull and three goats delivered to the house and after the man had tied the bull by its hooves and neck to a tree, the bull in its discomfort had toppled through the garden wall onto the pavement.
Neighbours gathered on the pavement and said they had not been informed about the cultural/ religious slaughtering ceremony which was to take place on Saturday April 26 and were absolutely horrified that the bull was being treated so cruelly.
Ward 23 Councillor, Paul Smit had been called by one of the residents and he asked the man at the house where the bull was being held, to see the letter of permission for such an act to take place.
“The permit states, ‘The neighbours must be notified in advance of such slaughtering’ and ‘the public must be protected from any unsightly scene or distressing occurrence that may arise during the slaughtering process’. As far as I can see this hasn’t been adhered to as this animal is suffering and needs to be slaughtered immediately,” said Clr Smit. The permit was issued by Ms M Dluli, Environmental Health Practitioner on April 16.
“This is frightful and the poor animal is obviously in distress. We certainly weren’t approached by the owner of this house about the slaughtering ceremony and we don’t want this sort of thing happening in our neighbourhood,” said one of the neighbours.
Gideon Morar, SPCA Inspector from Booysens, was on the scene. “This animal is in discomfort and it needs to be slaughtered now and not tomorrow morning when the ceremony is due to take place. The SPCA is strongly opposed to this kind of slaughtering where the animal is caused unnecessary suffering.”
After the owner of the house, who had arranged for the bull and goats to be delivered at 17:00, was contacted, saying he’d only be home in about two hours, it was decided to cut the bull’s throat immediately to put her out of her misery.
“The bull can’t be slaughtered on the pavement, this is a public walkway,” Clr Smit said. “There are certain health regulations which have to be adhered to.” The bull was eventually dragged partially back into the garden and slaughtered.
“We aren’t impressed by this at all. It’s disgusting and we certainly weren’t notified,” said a few of the angry neighbours. “This shouldn’t be allowed. If a permit is authorised the slaughtering should be done in a humane way and not like this. We don’t want the slaughtering of animals taking place in our suburb. Once the permit has been issued, how does the Health Department know what will happen to the animal? It shouldn’t be allowed,” the distressed neighbours concluded.
