Dog walks around with slit throat

When Jan van der Berg (35) was about to leave for work on 27 September, he discovered that one of his canine companions’ throat had been slit, so severely that for the first time he could see his Cocker Spaniel’s loving heart beat in plain sight.

The attack is believed to have happened between 11pm the previous night and 1am that morning. The cut was so precise and clean that Jan and his father Albert confidently dismisses any chance of the wound being inflicted accidentally.

Nothing was stolen from the property, but Albert did notice a set of footprints near their property’s main gate – suggesting the presence of an attacker.

“I went to bed at around 10.30pm last night, but woke up when our Pekingese started barking,” says Albert.

It was 1am and Albert found it strange that he only heard barking from one of their dogs. Snowy, the Cocker Spaniel remained silent.
The Pekingese started barking again at 4.15am. Although Albert found Snowy’s silence strange, he didn’t suspect that the dog was in any form of danger.

The Van der Bergs have been occupying the rented house in Elsenburg Street since December last year, and to date have had no problems with crimes of any sort – not the usual at least.

ANONYMOUS LETTERS

An unknown resident did not give them much time to settle in though, as between January and February, Jan received letters stuck to his garage door demanding that he address his dogs’ barking.

“My dogs bark when they see something suspecious or when people walk past our gate. They are watch dogs and therefore it is normal for them to react to any odd occurrences,” explains Jan.

Although the first letter from the unknown person was subtle, the second was of a threatening nature.
“The letters were written in Afrikaans,” says Jan.

The second letter, according to him, read as follows: “As julle nie plan maak met jul honde se geblaf nie, dan maak ons plan“, which directly translates to “If you don’t attend to your dogs’ barking, then we will”.

After receiving this letter, he went door to door in an attempt to find out who wrote the letter.
During Jan’s search, his next-door neighbour confirmed that they too have received such letters. The author, however, could not be traced.

REALITY SINKS IN

Later that morning (27 September) Jan had to give the go-ahead for the SPCA to euthanise the pet dog he had loved for the past three years.
This difficult decision seemed to be the least painful as Snowy would have had to endure months of surgery and recovery without any guarantee of survival.

Jan and Albert confirmed that they would open a case at the Roodepoort SAPS, but understandably Jan is still upset.

“I will take the law into my own hands. We have done nothing to cause anyone around us discomfort or pain.”