CHARMAINE and Taylor Coetzee noticed a dog on their way home one evening, which they suspected was in ill health. It was on the verge of a property close to their house in Assagay, and it approached the homeowner’s animals aggressively at the fence.
The mother and daughter called the Kloof and Highway SPCA to apprehend the animal, which they suspected was infected with rabies. While they waited for the inspector to arrive, the duo followed the dog from the safety of their vehicle, making a note of the addresses of all the properties where the sick animal interacted with domestic pets, preventing it from approaching pedestrians and monitoring its location.
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Coetzee and her daughter enticed the dog with small bits of bread to coax it away from property fences.
Coetzee says, “The dog’s ability to swallow seemed to be compromised. We’d give him bits of bread, wave for other cars to go past slowly, and follow him from house to house as he wandered up towards Alverstone. As he came to another house, he would go for the dogs in an aggressive way, and he even nipped one of the dogs on the nose. We are inclined to think our pets are safe in our own yards, but it’s about what is coming to your fence. That’s why vaccination is important. “
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The reason why the Coetzees felt obliged to take on this responsibility is partly due to an experience with their own animals.
“We have four dogs of our own, and we arrived home one day to find a note from the SPCA saying that a rabid dog had been in our road, had come to our fence and was in contact with our pets, who were fortunately vaccinated. We took their advice and gave our animals a booster shot as a precaution. If we didn’t have that experience ourselves, we would not have known how easily rabies is transmitted,” says Coetzee.
The Good Samaritan feels that one of the most concerning aspects is that people are ignorant about the disease and will try to help dogs that look sick and injured by capturing the animal. Should the dog have rabies, this will endanger the rescuer’s own safety. The virus is highly infectious, and once symptoms become evident, there is no cure by that point. The fatality rate is 100%.
Coetzee’s daughter’s fiancé, Brandon Morris, arrived with the Kloof and Highway SPCA inspector, and between them, the dog was caught with a net. Due to the poor condition of the animal, it was euthanised on the spot.
Coetzee says that animals can’t speak for themselves and that we need to advocate for them.
“It is important that people remember three things – you don’t know what has come to your property or your fence. Secondly, your dog can’t speak, so it is up to you to do the right thing as vaccination is not expensive. Lastly, together with being a part of our families, we expect our dogs to be there for us in security situations. Besides loving them, the least we can do is to give back by protecting them, too,” says Coetzee.
