“It was horrific and heart-wrenching,” an inspector of the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) said on Friday when they were called out to a scene in De Wildt, where cattle were slaughtered alive and some were left suffering after their legs had been hacked, Kormorant has reported.
The NSPCA was called to the scene on Friday afternoon after local residents discovered the dead and suffering animals on a construction site. Some animals were hacked to pieces, while others only had pieces of meat removed.
“When the inspector of the NSPCA’s Farm Animal Protection Unit arrived at the gruesome scene, it was to find the remains of approximately four cattle strewn across a construction site. Two cattle were lying amongst the devastation, unable to get up as the tendons in their hind legs had been hacked. Upon further investigation, a calf which had also had its tendons cut, was discovered concealed by people on the scene,” the NSPCA said.
De Wildt farmer Jorge Santos was alerted by a local woman who discovered the gruesome scene. “Me and a neighbour’s cattle have gone missing the past weeks, and she thought it might be ours. It was horrendous. A cow and a bull were lying with their tendons cut, trying to get up while calves were crying for their mother. How can people do that to animals? The suffering was terrible,” he told Kormorant.
“The Soshanguve Police K9 Unit euthanased the suffering animals on the scene. It is incomprehensible that these perpetrators acted without any compassion and tortured these animals, completely disregarding the animals’ suffering. The scene was horrific and heart-wrenching,” said national inspector Colette Barnard of the NSPCA Farm Animal Protection Unit.
“The NSPCA would like to thank Constable Hlatshwayo and Sergeant Motlhabi of the Shoshanguve K9 Unit for their swift response and willingness to assist in securing the scene as well as the euthanasia of the animals.
“The NSPCA is shocked and horrified by the brutality of such attacks on animals and urges anyone with any information relating to this case to contact the NSPCA Farm Animal Protection Unit on 011 907 3590.”