Dogs have been poisoned on a weekly basis and people have taken to social media to share their frustration and sadness over the loss of their pets.
Marina van der Merwe posted on Facebook that her Rottweiler was poisoned on Wednesday morning, February 18. Several people mentioned in the comments that they have experienced the same thing and others expressed their condolences. Two beautiful St Bernards also fell victim to poison last week according to a post on Facebook. One of them died but the other one is slowly recovering.
The question is how bad is situation really if we add all the cases together?
Witbank Veterinary Hospital said that just last week they received five cases of dog poisoning. There are still many animals that do not even make it to the vet, such as those who are found dead the next morning by their owners. The veterinarian mentioned that sometimes three or four weeks will go by without a single case being reported, and then a wave of cases will come in over a period of a week or two.
“In most cases it is phosphate poisoning, but recently there have been strange cases where other chemicals are used to poison the dogs,” said Dr Tobie Spies. It is possible that these chemicals are also used in manufacturing drugs such as Tik.
Dr Vernon Rezin from Watermeyer Veterinary Clinic deals regularly with dog poisoning cases.
“We sometimes get one or two cases a week, and sometimes four or five cases but it is always ongoing,” said Dr Rezin.
The clinic usually gets the call early in the morning; the most recent case was Saturday, February 22.
There are several other veterinary clinics in eMalahleni that also receive regular dog poisoning cases.
Mpho Mokoane, inspector at Witbank SPCA, said that they hear of about seven cases a week, apparently many of the reported cases come from Klipfontein and Reyno Ridge areas.
‘Two Step’ is the poison normally used in dog poison cases. The poison is manufactured in Mozambique specifically to poison animals and is smuggled into the country. The poison is usually added to sausages and polony in most cases, and thrown over the wall by criminals.
“We usually advise people to keep their dogs inside the house whenever possible. There have been cases where dogs have been poisoned while in the backyard of their house,” said Mokoane.
Witbank SAPS urges residents once again to report it as a crime, because it may assist them in their overall investigation. It was reported in the February 20 issue of WITBANK NEWS that a Yorkshire terrier and a Pitbull were poisoned in Highveld Park and died. It was in fact a bullterrier and the yorkie did survive the incident.
