Cattle hacked with homemade tool

Eight cows were found hacked in Slovo Park this morning (May 27). The following content may not be suitable for sensitive readers.

The owner of these cows, Mduduzi Dhlamini (78), was told on Tuesday afternoon that only two cows and their two calves returned to the kraal.

The Welgedacht resident was worried about his cattle and couldn’t sleep.

When Mduduzi received a phone call early this morning, his hopes of finding his cows alive were shattered, and he was told two men were selling meat from a wheelbarrow in Slovo Park.

Mduduzi went to investigate and asked the men if they had more meat.

The two men, accompanied by three others, took Mduduzi to the area where they had slaughtered some of the cattle.

It was then that Mduduzi saw his other cows in a nearby trench.

With a sore heart, he saw the rest of his herd had been hacked at their shins.

His memories will always be tainted by their suffering.

It was his livelihood, and with this herd he supported his family.

“Now they are gone and I only have the four left that came home on Tuesday night,” he says.

Springs SPCA inspector Liezel Kruger immediately reacted to the call and was horrified with what she saw when she arrived at the scene.

The tool used to cut the animals’ shins was homemade.

She explains the men chased the cattle into an area where they could not escape, and while running around helplessly were hacked at with a homemade tool.

“They slaughtered two cows alive and left the others in agony,” she says.

One of the cows was pregnant and died on the scene.

Liezel believes it was due to the pain and suffering.

The other cows awaited their fate and had to be shot on the scene by Liezel and Esrom Maluka, a meat inspector.

Esrom says nothing can be done to help the cows as they will never walk again.

The carcasses were taken to a nearby abattoir for investigation.

If it is found that the meat is edible, it will be sold and the money will be given to Mduduzi.

He and his friends caught four of the culprits, but one got away.

The men were taken to the Springs police cells.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHqpP-VUP9w&feature=youtu.be