Marianne Nel, chairperson of the Vorna Valley Residents Association said she was left dumbfounded when Midrand Police informed her that they could not arrest four men who were caught hunting with 16 dogs in the suburb’s The Vlei, a swamp in the area.
Nel said they initially called Ria Sebetsa Security Company to the swamp. “They were quick to respond and caught the guys. The Midrand SPCA was also quick to respond and took the dogs away, two of the dogs got away,” said Nel.
“The police said that they cannot charge these guys as we don’t own the Vlei so they dropped them off elsewhere,” she said.
Nel said police officers informed her that they could not charge the men for hunting in the Vlei, as the owner of the Vlei has to lay a charge and the association is not the owner.
Ria Sebetsa’s CEO, Danny Maduray confirmed that they were called to the scene by the association. “We received messages from the community via whatsapp and we also received calls from our clients saying there are four suspicious guys running up and down in The Vlei area on Le Roux drive. The team went into the area and caught the suspects who had 16 hunting dogs. These guys confessed that they were looking for rabbits and cane rats. We found one rock rabbit killed in their bags,” said Maduray.
Nel said there is a by-law that states that hunting is illegal. “They were in the Vlei illegally as well, yet the police could not arrest them. I later spoke to some people and was informed that metro police needed to come out to arrest them as they have to enforce our by-laws. Why then did the police not call for metro police come out,” she asked. “I will be taking this up with the police, metro police as well at the relevant MEC,” said Nel.
She also thanked Ria Sebetsa and the Midrand SPCA for their quick response.
The by-law which Nel based her views can be viewed on the City of Johannesburg website.
The police could not be immediately reached for comment. The SPCA inspectors could not comment as they were already working on a separate case and could attend to a media query at the time of print.
