The Cape of Good Hope SPCA rescued approximately 24 dogs, including nursing mothers and their puppies, from a backyard breeding operation in Dunoon, Cape Town, on Wednesday, reports Cape {town} Etc.
Cape of Good Hope SPCA/Facebook
This comes after inspectors executed a magistrate’s court-issued warrant. The animals were found in overcrowded enclosures, surrounded by faeces, diarrhoea, untreated wounds and dirty marshland water.
Backed by the City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement Animal Control Unit, inspectors worked through muddy, rubble-strewn terrain to remove the animals.
The animals were found emaciated, untreated and crammed into makeshift cages of corrugated sheeting, broken plastic and bent wire, bred repeatedly for sale while living in filth. One small puppy was found actively seizing on arrival. She was rushed to the nearest vet but could not be saved.
Inspector Rudolf Philander, who had visited the property multiple times, described what drove the operation to this point. ‘The warnings, the education fell on deaf ears,’ he said. ‘No animal should live like this.’ His colleague, Inspector Jeffrey Mfini, was equally direct: ‘I don’t know when the people will learn to look after animals. They treat them like an object.’
Inspectors noted a pattern consistent with dogs being sold at nearby robots. ‘As long as money has been made, animals will be bred,’ the SPCA said in its broadcast.
Buying a puppy from a hawker, even with good intentions, perpetuates a cycle of abuse and cruelty and, under Cape Town’s Animal Keeping By-laws 2021, supports backyard breeding, which is against the law.
All rescued animals will receive veterinary assessment before being placed for adoption. To report animal cruelty, contact the SPCA on 021 700 4158.
Article by Angelica Rhoda for Cape ETC
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