A peaceful afternoon walk for the Botha family, with the family’s dog Max, a loving Ridgeback/Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross, turned into chaos yesterday afternoon.
Two sisters, Christelle and Anuscké Botha, were walking their dogs, Max and Giselle, who were both on leads, peacefully down Buller Street in Dennesig.
Suddenly a black Rottweiler bolted towards them from a resident’s property, uncontrolled and aggressive, and made a beeline towards Max. The Rottweiler then began his vicious attack.
Christelle screamed for help, “I knew Max was going to be badly injured,” she said. She then went on to explain how Max, still on his lead, was powerfully forced to the ground by the Rottweiler. The attack became more vicious as Max was repeatedly bitten and dragged for about 100m. Christelle’s hands were also injured during the attack.
Neighbours rushed to the scene, armed with pipes and spades, and tried to stop the ferocious onslaught.
During the attack, Christelle said that a teenage boy was standing in the yard where the Rottweiler came from, and did nothing.
The ‘owner’ of the dog then called the Rottweiler home, explaining to Christelle there was something wrong with his front gate.
Christelle’s mother then phoned the SPCA for help. When an inspector arrived on the scene, he asked if he could remove the Rottweiler, but the owner refused.
The Middelburg Observer contacted SPCA senior inspector Petro Oberholzer, who said the local municipality should take charge and handle the matter urgently.
Neighbours are highly upset and are busy drawing up a petition, claiming that action should be taken against the owner and the dog should be removed due to his aggressive nature.
According to Christelle’s mother Jeanette, two dogs were recently killed by the Rottweiler, “This is not the first attack; others have been fatal,” she told the Middelburg Observer.
