By Karabo Rammutla
Still another child has fallen victim to pitbulls in the Free State. The boy, three years old, who was mauled to death on Sunday morning, was playing in a neighbour’s yard in Sekoti Mpate, Hennenman.
The dog’s owner had to be taken out of his house under police protection as fuming residents bayed for his blood, and neighbours hacked and stoned one of the dogs to death and set its body on fire.
Police have opened an inquest for further investigation.
The attack came only a week after an eight-year-old was mauled to death by a neighbour’s pitbull in Mangaung, and two days after the child’s funeral.
Free State police spokesperson, Captain Stephen Thakeng, confirmed the incident that took place on Sunday morning.
“The child was playing with others at a house when he was attacked and mauled by two pit bull dogs. The boy died on the scene,” he said.
Thakeng said angry residents wanted to kill both dogs and attack the owner.
“Police were called to the scene and removed the owner to a safe place. Residents attacked the dogs and one of them was killed with garden spades, hit with stones and ultimately burnt to death. The other pit bull was taken by SPCA for safe keeping,” he said.
Thakeng said the situation in the village remains tense but public order police members are there in numbers to ensure that law and order is maintained.
The recent case has renewed calls for the breed to be banned.
Over 150,000 have signed a petition on Change.org to have pitbulls banned. The Sizwe Kupelo Foundation is leading the call and has called for the immediate ban of the breed.
Pitbulls are banned in Russia, Finland, Denmark, United Kingdom, Portugal, parts of Germany, parts of China, parts of Brazil and parts of Australia.
“We cannot continue losing young people to these vicious dogs that have shown time and again that they should not be kept as pets. The defence by pitbull lovers that it is how you raise the dog does not hold water. So many people, including joggers, have been attacked and killed by pitbulls,” Kupelo said.
He called on animal lovers and organisations to make similar calls so as to put more pressure on the government to ban the animals.
Pictured below: Angry residents burnt to death a pitbull that mauled a kid to death
Picture source: @Saps
