In a shocking case of animal cruelty, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA opened a case against a Pelican Park man for allegedly setting his dog alight.
Last month, Cape of Good Hope SPCA Chief Inspector Jaco Pieterse and Inspector Jeffrey Mfini executed a warrant of arrest at a property in Pelican Park to remove sheep, ducks and chickens from inhumane conditions when they made the grisly discovery.
In a statement explaining how they discovered the dog’s remains, the Cape of Good SPCA said the dog had previously been seen chained on the property.
However, on Thursday 19 December 2024 when SPCA inspectors and law enforcement officers entered the property the dog was nowhere to be found.
“The owner alleged that the dog had been moved, but evidence of a recent fire in the area where the dog had been kept led the team to dig deeper,” the statement read.
“Finally and heartbreakingly the dog’s charred remains were located, still shackled, wrapped in a blanket and discarded in an open field like trash.”
The property owner was immediately arrested at the time.
Pain and suffering
Meanwhile, Pieterse recounted the horror and sadness they felt when discovering the charred remains. “My heart shattered into a million pieces. This boy had no chance to run, no chance to survive,” he said. “We were too late.”
Mfini, who had been at the property and interacted with the dog on previous occasions, said it was tough to put into words how it felt to see the pain and suffering the dog must have endured.
“To find him like this – burned, discarded, as though his life meant nothing – cuts deeper than words can express. He deserved so much more.”
With assistance from the City of Cape Town’s law enforcement animal control unit the farm animals which included sheep and chickens were removed from the property.
