Madam – Our response.
Dear Mrs Shaikh, in response to your letter 20 March 2015 please note the following.
The SPCA sympathises with the injured lady and we feel sad that she is now afraid of dogs however this was not the first incident and unfortunately won’t be the last. This incident could have been avoided if all parties concerned had done their jobs. The fact that there are so many dogs roaming the streets specifically in your neighbourhood is disturbing to say the least.
There are just far too many animals in this area that are left to their own devices. People own dogs but cannot contain them in the property as either they leave their gates open or the fences are falling apart. No responsibility is taken and the owners don’t give a dam what effect their animals have on others. Unfortunately these factors do not give the SPCA any authority to intervene.
Roaming animals are roaming is the sole responsibility of the Municipality and if they do not respond please ensure you take it up with them.
Neither does the SPCA attend to vicious dogs, the number of animals one owns or dogs that bark incessantly and cause a disturbance. We will only respond if these animals are being abused by someone. Once again the Municipality is the correct authority to contact with these type of complaints. If an animal attacks a human being then the incident must be handled by the Police. We can only offer advice to animal owners in these cases.
The SPCA will not be involved with neighbourly disputes, assumptions or plain down right nastiness towards someone. The SPCA is an organisation that deals with animal problems and not human problems.
Mrs Shaikh now you have read what we can and cannot do you should understand that this incident had nothing to do with the SPCA. Thus there was no reason for us to be contacted or involved. There was nothing wrong with the dogs. These dogs were acting, although not very nicely, in a natural manner. They were not being abused in any way therefore this is ultimately a Municipal and Police matter and these departments should hold the owner accountable, not the animals. Anything both animal or human that is left to its own devices tend to misbehave.
However, the locking up of dogs is most definitely a case for any SPCA to investigate. The SPCA investigates all complaints received through our office irrespective of how much support that person gives us. So if you were investigated there was good reason for us to do our job.
The biggest problem any SPCA faces is public opinion on how, when and what work we should be doing. The SPCA is often accused of being useless and not doing their job when in fact it is not our job to do. The Community sees an animal and automatically assume ‘SPCA’. Nothing could be further from the truth. The SPCA movement only has authority to enforce the Animals Protection No71 of 1962 which means we can only deal with animals that fall within this Act. (Please go onto the internet and down load this Act for your own education.)
The best way to eliminate this friction is for the public to become enlightened with the Animals Protection Act, to stop assuming and to let us do the job we are allowed to do. Remember any SPCA is only as strong as the support given to them by their community and support does not always mean financial.
So, slating the SPCA is tantamount to slating the community which is also unfair.
Heather Gero
