GRAPHIC: Mass cattle slaughtering takes place on Mpumalanga farm

The farmer says three of the cattle were still alive and had to be shot due to their injuries. WARNING: Content and images may be disturbing to sensitive viewers.

The aftermath of a mass slaughter on a farm in Mpumalanga.

A farmer made a gruesome discovery on Thursday morning after 16 of his cattle were slaughtered on his farm next to the N17 near Bethal.

Daan Malan said three of the 16 cattle were still alive and they had to shoot them due to their injuries, he told Ridge Times.

The cattle’s hocks were cut so they could not walk anymore.

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Malan appointed extra security guards to patrol his farm during the night and he said the criminals must have been observing the guards’ movements as they slaughtered the cattle between 2am and 5am this morning.

“The guards patrolled that area for the last time at 2am this morning, and just after 5am they called me and said there are carcasses,” said Malan.

He said criminals tried to steal three of his cattle on Monday night at about 11pm as well, but one of his guards saw them and they ran away.

“We especially moved the cattle into a different camp closer to the house, but there must have been a few criminals because they moved all the cattle into a different camp before slaughtering them.”

Only the heads and stomachs of some of the cattle were left, and a few of them still had meat on as well.