The husky was beaten to death in White River on December 30 and the case had social media buzzing with attempts to get justice for the animal.
Max was beaten to death after attacking goats at a neighbouring property. The dog’s owner, Mr Marius Kotze, reported the case and the Lowveld SPCA and White River K9 unit went to investigate. After a post-mortem, it was concluded that a rib punctured the dog’s lung and caused him to drown in his own blood.
Kotze laid charges of animal cruelty in terms of the Animals Protection Act against a neighbour but later withdrew his statement.
He had also been charged and was to be prosecuted for failing to take appropriate and responsible action to prevent his dog from entering the neighbouring property and chasing and attacking livestock.
According to the neighbour, only known as Mr Spahn, he made several attempts, via phone calls and SMS, to contact Max’s owner and tell him to keep his dog inside his property, but it was to no avail.
Max’s owner was the only witness in the NSPCA’s animal cruelty case and due to his statement being withdrawn, there is insufficient evidence for a case to proceed. So far the NSPCA’s repeated efforts to have the case reinstated have been unsuccessful but, as a final attempt, they have appealed to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Both the NSPCA and Lowveld SPCA are very disappointed in the turn of events.
According to a press release by the NSPCA their investigations involved a great deal of manpower, time and cost. Their committed staff believe that there must be accountability and justice in any case of animal abuse and cruelty and are very concerned that such a case can be so hastily disregarded.
“This is a serious case of animal cruelty that was published far and wide, and we cannot allow an example to be set whereby a culprit can torture an animal in this manner and walk away freely without consequences,” said senior inspector Jaco Pieterse of the NSPCA.
Any queries relating to Max’s case can be directed to the senior public prosecutor, Ms C Mortlock, on CaMortlock@justice.gov.za .
The NSPCA would like to thank the public for its concern and ongoing support regarding the case.
