Beloved Summerveld dog is missing

A DOG that has won the hearts of a group of Summerveld residents has gone missing.

Cane, as he was fondly known, lived in a sugarcane field for about a year and was fed by a group of people who saw him on the side of the road.

A concerned resident, Karin Voigt, said she noticed the dog was missing last Wednesday when she, and her friend, Sharon, decided to change his bed from where it was to across the road as they knew the sugarcane was going to be burned in January.

“We had not seen him for a day. As we moved his bed, we noticed a pool of blood with a trail to another big pool of blood. We were terrified and wondered whether it was Cane,” said Voigt.

She said, previously, Cane had picked up a snare in his right front paw, which, because he was terrified of people, they could not help him to take it out.

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“We have tried numerous times to catch him, via the SPCA, or friends, or whatever means we could think of, but unfortunately he would not let us near him.

Voigt told the Highway Mail that she and Sharon went to the area everyday.

“Sharon would feed him in the morning and lunchtime and I was there everyday around 4.30pm. He had his little routine, happy to see us, dancing around on three legs, and then shoot into the cane where he knew his food was.

“We made up a bed for him with blankets which we changed whenever it rained. We even had an umbrella over his little house. He really became an icon.”

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A concerned Voigt said Christmas/New Year’s was a concern for her because a lot of people were away, but she went everyday.

“I honestly thought there was a chance of him coming closer. When we noticed that he went missing, we called and called, and usually he shows his little face, but there has been nothing. We realised something has happened to him,” said Voigt.

Because the pools of blood could be clues, Voigt decided to call private investigator, Brad Nathanson.

“With him being an avid animal lover, I knew he could help solve this mystery. He came along straight away, no time wasted, even with his tight schedule, and looked all over Cane’s little spot and at the blood pools. I keep going back every day, hoping that we are wrong and that we might see him again and that the blood does not actually belong to him, but I think unfortunately we have lost the poor little soul.”

She pleaded with anyone who knows or has seen Cane after Wednesday, 10 January, to contact Brad Nathanson on 083 2502 007.

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