Afternoon
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Rowallan Park, Port Elizabeth
South Africa
Normal
A 50ish man walks down a suburban street. He is a familiar sight in the neighborhood, known to most as Marks or Pompies; he does odd jobs for locals. Two dogs
are running around in their owner’s yard. The dogs become excited at the
man passing by, and escape their yard to approach him.
Not
The dogs are pit bulls; they attack the Marks. They latch onto his arm and maul him badly. When a second man, Jannie van Schalkwyk, tries to rescue Marks, the pits attack him too, biting him in the face and back. The pits do not let go of
until police arrive and fire “warning shots” to spook them.
the man, aged in his 50s, suffered life-threatening injuries to the chest and arms in the horrific attack on Saturday. His ears had also been ripped off. The victim, who does odd jobs in the area, was placed on a ventilator after he stopped breathing at the scene
Neighbor Hennie de Klerk
“I was busy with something and I just heard this terrible scream,”
Consequences
Marks suffers life-threatening bite wounds to the chest and arms; doctors are forced to remove half his left arm. He stops breathing at the scene, and is placed on a ventilator. He endures multiple surgeries.
Jannie van Schalkwyk is bitten on the face and back and is treated at a hospital.
The pit bulls are confiscated by police and turned over to Port Elizabeth’s Animal Welfare Society (AWS). They are euthanized with the agreement of owner Marcus van Meiring.
No charges have been filed and no citations issued for the pit bull owner. He is said to be under investigation
... for failing to prevent injury to a person under the Animal Protection Act.
Pit bull owner says
Pit bull owner Marcus van Meiring has not commented on the attacks. The homeowner, Christo van Meiring, waited 4 days, then filed a complaint, alleging someone had tampered with the lock on the gate to his property. Christo van Meiring is a police officer.
Rescue Expert Says
News24 interviews Marizanne Ferreira, an animal
rescuer who works with AWS. She says the male pit has a serious skin
condition, and that both wagged their tails in “greeting” when she met
them in the kennels, but seemed stressed in the
strange environment. She admits they should be euthanized, but she
seems to think it’s more because of a lack of information that would
excuse their ripping a man’s arm off, rather than because they ripped a
man’s arm off.
"I won't be able to find a new home for the dogs, because we don't know why they attacked."
Ferreira boasts of having worked with fighting pit bulls, and goes on to
lay the blame for aggression at the feet of people who fail to
socialize their pets.
"Dogs who are treated like ornaments become aggressive. Dogs need
attention and need socialising as well as being sterilised on time."
Ferreira uses the opportunity to offer her sympathy to pit bulls - these two in particular, and the breed in general.
“Sadly, I believe it is too late for these dogs – the damage is done. It is probably the end of the road for them... Pitbulls are the villains of the dog world because they are so often
used for dog-fighting. I have rehomed pitbulls with families with small
children and the elderly in wheelchairs without a problem. .. It is a great pity that their strength and loyalty are being abused.”
News links
PE man loses arm after vicious dog attack (2/20/17)
Rowallan Park man critical after dog attack
Port Elizabeth man remains critical after being mauled by pit bulls
Dog attack: Owner of home lays complaint (2/22/2017)
http://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2017/02/22/dog-attack-owner-home-lays-complaint/
Attack Dogs Put Down
http://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2017/02/21/attack-dogs-put/
No comments:
Post a Comment