Call for clarity on who funds care for impounded dogs

Organised agriculture in the Eastern Cape has called for urgent talks with police and the National Prosecuting Authority to resolve the issue of who must fund the care of dogs confiscated during illegal hunting.

In a letter to Agri SA, Agri Eastern Cape rural safety committee chair Alfonso van Niekerk said the matter had come to a head a fortnight ago after a major swoop on taxi hunters on a Tarkastad farm during which 38 dogs were confiscated.

Farmers were unwilling to see the dogs simply released back into the community as they were trained to hunt and would simply be used again for this purpose so they were impounded at the Komani SPCA. 

While Agri EC and the SPCA were together prepared to cover the cost initially, the understanding was that the state would take it over.

This had not happened, and with the case only beginning on Tuesday after two postponements, the matter had to be resolved, Van Niekerk said.

“A non-profit, animal welfare NGO cannot be expected to bear the cost burden of detaining, treating, disposing of, or looking after state evidence with no remuneration.

“Likewise, it also cannot be expected of private persons, companies and organisations to fund the SPCA for this service.

“As such, Agri EC is requesting that Agri SA urgently engage with the SA Police Service, the National Prosecuting Authority and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to resolve this issue,” he said.

“Some type of service level agreement or policy and procedure needs to be put in place to deal with these dogs.”

Van Niekerk said the dog impoundment funding issue was part of a broader problem mushrooming in the province.

“Illegal hunting and poaching with dogs in the Eastern Cape are reaching epidemic proportions.

“This illegal hunting is conducted not only for own consumption of ‘bush meat’ but is becoming an organised criminal activity conducted for supply on order and as a highly organised gambling activity.”

Apart from the wanton and indiscriminate destruction of wildlife, there was also a threat to rural communities.

Farmers had experienced cases where dog packs had attacked domestic stock and further losses occurred when dogs that had been lost and abandoned by their owners turned feral, he said.

“These dogs are the main ‘criminal instrument’ used in this type of crime and have be treated as such.”

Two taxis and a trailer allegedly used to ferry the 16 suspects and their dogs up to the farm Casperskop between Tarkastad and Hofmeyr on May 24 were also confiscated in the swoop by farmers, police and a provincial environment department official.

The suspects appeared on Tuesday in the Hofmeyr Magistrate’s Court charged with illegal hunting but no news of the trial’s progress was available on Tuesday evening.

Komani SPCA chair Adele Reynders said on Tuesday the feeding of the dogs since they were impounded had been funded by cash donations from the Komani community and farmers.

The most recent donation of 700kg of food from Optimizor had been organised by the Hofmeyer Farmers Association and would hopefully last a few weeks.

“The dogs were very thin and dehydrated when we took them in and we also had to take some to the vet to check old injuries.

“They just collapsed when we first received them but they’re in much better shape now.”