Norwood twin dog lost soon after birthday celebration
All was not lost as community members rallied and helped find one-half, of a pair, of lost twin dogs from Norwood, who had disappeared soon after their birthday.
A day after celebrating their seventh birthday, twin dogs from Norwood went missing. The owner of Chelsea and Sammy, Irvin Mahlangu shared that on October 14 in the afternoon, he and his wife went shopping at around 13:00. They were not aware that as soon as they opened the gate to leave, the dogs went out as well. Upon coming back, the couple was surprised because they were normally welcomed home by the dogs, but this didn’t happen.
After checking all over the house and not finding the dogs, Mahlangu went on a hunt with his brother Lwazi.
“We went down the road and found kids playing with Sammy. I asked them where the other dog was, and they told me someone had taken Chelsea. I went to where they directed me, which was at a shop, and asked the shop owner if he had seen the dog; someone else at the shop heard me and said he had seen someone who looked like a homeless man with the dog and was selling it for R1 000,” Mahlangu recounted.
The patron further said the homeless man said if someone wanted to buy the dog, they would find him at Norwood SPAR. Upon going there and asking other homeless people there, they denied seeing anyone with a dog.
“My brother Lwazi called me five minutes after we had split for a search. He was now with the security personnel who said they had seen the homeless man with the dog trying to sell it to shops around there. Those people became suspicious and took those dogs away from him.”
Among those people was community member Jordan Sillato, who Mahlangu phoned. Sillato directed Mahlangu to the local vet who let him know that one community member had offered to keep the dog till the owner came looking. After verifying that Mahlangu was the rightful owner, the community member released the dog to Mahlangu who was relieved and thankful to welcome his ‘family member’ back home on October 17.
Sillato said he had figured something was wrong when he saw the homeless man with the Yorkie. He had asked the homeless man whose dog it was, and he said it was his and had gotten it from Yeoville. Sillato said the man was then breaking a bottle to hit the security personnel questioning him, so he took the dog away from him. “I don’t expect a reward but just want to urge community members to know who the security is around them instead of approaching these situations themselves,” advised Sillato.
Mahlangu expressed his eternal gratitude to the community members who were involved in bringing his dog back and paid out R1 000 to them. He also thanked the security personnel for the outstanding role they play in the community.
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