At least three separate cases of animal cruelty occurred over last week, when members of the community used a pellet gun to shoot, injure and in one incident kill, people’s household pets.
On November 19 Mr Johan Oosthuizen woke up to put food out for his one-year-old Jack Russel, Oortjies when he noticed a lot of blood on the rear porch.
“After looking around I found him and saw he was bleeding heavily from the rear, on closer inspection I noticed that there was a small hole in his skin and suspected that he had been shot,” said Oosthuizen.
Oosthuizen cleaned the wound and asked his father to take the dog to the vet, where an X-ray was carried out and it was discovered that he had indeed been shot and that the bullet had penetrated his rear leg.
The veterinarian advised Oosthuizen’s father that it would be better not to remove the bullet as it did not hinder the dog’s movement or pose a threat to its vitals.
The wound was stitched up and Oortjies was given antibiotics and painkillers.
“I suspect it could have been someone in the neighbourhood, and my dog never leaves the property,” said Oosthuizen.
Mr and Ms Ryan and Jacqueline Rossi’s dog had been shot on Wednesday, November 19. This occurred in Ben Fleur and the Rossi family suspects that a child in the area was responsible for the shooting. They could not comment further.
In another incident on November 23, Ms Santa Pretorius witnessed birds being shot out of the tree that her children were playing under.
“It’s dangerous, someone could shoot the children’s eyes out,” she said.
She added that the ones responsible have little respect for anything or anyone.
Klipfontein Animal Clinic had two cases of animal shooting. They were able to save one of the animals, however another passed away from internal bleeding.
Witbank SPCA encourages everyone to report animal cruelty, complainants remain anonymous and the organisation is available 24/7 for emergencies, simply call 083 657 2421.
