A Tongaat family is seeking justice after their Jack Russell puppy was mauled to death by neighbouring pitbulls, highlighting ongoing concerns about responsible pet ownership and community safety.
The incident has led to a case being opened at Tongaat SAPS.
Melissa George, 42, of Gopalall Hurbans Road, said her family are traumatised after watching the attack on their puppy by two pitbulls.
She claimed they had been bashing heads with their neighbour about the pitbulls for many years.
The single mother said the pitbulls were vicious and she believed they were a danger to the community. She accused the dogs’ owner, who is a businessman, of being negligent. George claimed she had told him many times about her concerns about his dogs but he ignored her.
She said this eventually led to the deadly attack last Tuesday.
“We complained to him many times and pleaded with him to please chain his dogs when the gate was open. But he never listened to us. Even his workers ignored our requests. They leave the gates open and the dogs roam free, often causing chaos on the road because they chase after pedestrians and terrorise everyone in the neighbourhood.”
She said last Tuesday morning, two of the four pitbulls escaped from their yard and started barking at her gate. This made her five dogs retaliate, she said.
“Two of the pitbulls came out of their yard and tried to attack a man walking in the road. The man had to run into the sugar cane fields to get away from them.
“Thereafter, they came to my gate and started barking. The dogs damaged my fence. They gripped three of my dogs through the gate. Our Jack Russell was killed. Then they proceeded to attack the two smaller dogs, injuring them both,” George claimed.
She said despite all their effort, they failed to get their dogs to safety.
“These pitbulls had our dogs locked in their mouths,” she said.
Milo, was a 17 month-old Jack Russel, while her other two injured dogs were Milo’s brother and a three-year-old mixed breed Maltese Poodle.
“After my dog was killed, the neighbour locked his dogs up and started to repair the gate. He then locked the gate and chained the dogs. We walk past this premises every day and the gate is always open and so are the dogs. People are scared to walk on this road due to this.”
She claimed that the workers in the yard had laughed at them, while they tried to save their dogs.
“They did not even attempt to stop the pitbulls. Even when they saw my dog had died, they continued like nothing had happened. They did not even tell my neighbour, who was not there at the time.”
George claimed when she approached her neighbour for the vet and cremation fees, he refused to pay.
“He is refusing to pay for the vet bill for the two dogs, who were injured or to fix my gate. When I went to him, he gave me excuses. I was eventually fed up of listening to him and opened a police case against him. After that, he said he would not pay me a cent because he had been charged. Now he's ignoring me completely, while we mourn for our dog,” she said.
“I am devastated and so are my kids, who saw what happened. They won’t stop crying. We keep reliving what happened and are scared to walk on this road again. Sadly, the owner of the pitbulls is not remorseful. He did note apologise or sympathise with us. In my view, he neglects his dogs and treats them as guard dogs,” said George.
Durban Metro Police spokesperson, Colonel Boysie Zungu, said dog owners needed to take responsibility for their pets.
“If you have a vicious dog, you need to make sure that you keep them locked within your yard so as to not endanger the lives of the public and your neighbours," said Zungu.
A case of a vicious dog has been opened at Tongaat SAPS.