Sleddog sports hits back at SPCA

Sleddog racing is a winter dog sport which involves the timed competition of teams of sleddogs that pull a sled with the dog driver or ‘musher’ standing on the runners.

In December 2013, the South Gauteng High Court confirmed sleddog racing as a form of dog racing and illegal in South Africa.

Meyer claimed the NSPCA was unable to differentiate between greyhound racing and sleddog sport and felt it was “ignorant” on their part.

He felt the sport is disciminated against and that proving dog abuse in sleddog sports would have failed in court.

“ [It’s] not a surprise that there was never a court case of dog abuse in sleddog sports. Sleddog sport is ‘an animal-assisted human sport’ as per definition of the Sport Accord, the international body to recognise an activity as a sport,” he explained.

Meyer questioned what the NSPCA classified as animal abuse, as the same action taken against sleddog racing was not taken against the world championships in dog agility, which was held in Johannesburg in October last year.

“The police did not turn up to stop the event and did not threaten to arrest people. Why not? I can only speculate that the NSPCA does not see dog agility as cruel,” added Meyer.

He accused the NSPCA of discriminating against sleddog racing and having “double-standards”.

Senior inspector and manager for the NSPCA Special Projects Unit, Jaco Pieterse, said the letter by Meyer was “misinformed”, “misdirected” and “challenged the wrong organisation”.

He said the decision to declare sleddog racing illegal in South Africa was made by the South Gauteng High Court.

“When Meyer asks, ‘Is it just ignorance not to see the difference between greyhound racing and sleddog sports?’ he needs to direct the question to Judge Sikhakhane [of the South Gauteng High Court] or to obtain the court papers to view the reasoning behind the judgement,” said Pieterse.

“The matter was brought before the court by the South African Federation of Sleddog Sports, who lost the case and costs were awarded against them,” Pieterse said.

“The matter was not brought before the court by the NSPCA,” he added.

He said the case was not argued on the degree of cruelty in certain forms of activities involving dogs.

“It was the legal test of whether sleddog racing is illegal and the judge declared that it is… The SPCA movement does not enforce the ordinances prohibiting dog racing, the police do.”