Animal lover challenges accuser to pay self-imposed penalty

EDITOR – I refer to the letter published in your newspaper dated 27 February under the heading ‘Motorist’s irresponsible game must be stopped’.

I would like to thank Jenny for putting pen to paper, which certainly beats her previous communication attempts where she drove her car at us at a high speed, blowing her hooter and verbally abusing us.

She notes that she would like to shame me, she then insults my ability to think, she doubts my sobriety and alleges that I am short on grey matter. If I am all this, how on earth would she shame me? Not one of these unfair allegations needs defending.

What actually surprises me is that you publish such a defamatory letter without ascertaining yourself of the facts first. So for the record and in my own defence, kindly publish this letter in my defence:

We share our home with three puppies (our description of them). Fred, Pepe and Pixie. One of their great joys is to go for long drives, normally over weekends. We quickly learnt that Pepe, the little black one loved surfing the air. He has a habit of climbing out the window, then balancing himself with his tummy over the side-view mirror. We realised that the only thing that secured him was his harness, we bought a second harness so that Pepe, not unlike a trapeze artist, is always doubly secured during his wind surfing escapades. He is able to stand balancing himself with his hind legs on the window sill and his front paws on the mirror or the windscreen. The two leads are always securely wrapped around my arm.

Jenny alleges that Pepe rides on the bonnet of the car. The picture she tries to paint of a puppy riding on the bonnet of a car not unlike a bonnet mascot on a Jaguar, is just ridiculous. I know that she took photos during December and I challenge her to make those available to show how Pepe rides on the bonnet while I drive the vehicle one-handed.

All these accusations now get a bit ridiculous when Jenny writes and blatantly lies by saying that Pixie was also on the bonnet. Pixie is a mild little soul without a brave hair on her little furry body. At best she leans into the wind by sticking her nose out the window. Poor Fred, our other puppy, is getting on in years a bit and sits on my wife’s lap with his chin resting on the window sill.

We have been treating all our puppies to this weekend treat as they know it for years. No Toti resident has ever expressed the thought that we were endangering others or God forbid, our own puppies until our unfortunate first meeting with Jenny. That was also the time Pepe nearly fell because of Jenny’s maniacal behaviour.

Jenny, allow me to end this letter by stating that I love animals so much that my wife and I feed 15 feral cats daily. Our puppies are like our children. There is no way I would do anything to either endanger Pepe, other road users or my wife. I have an accident and incident-free record with my insurance and this may come as a surprise to you, also no criminal record.

Kindly let us be, let Pepe be and if you see us on the road, do not sound your hooter at us as it frightens Pepe. He loves it though when people wave at him, so try that.

Our animal’s records are also available at Seadoone Vet for scrutiny. Our animals are healthy, well taken care of and spoilt rotten, their vet records will prove this with no incidents or accidents.

In the light of your false accusations, I am donating a thousand rand to Amanzimtoti SPCA as a self-imposed penalty for upsetting your animal lover’s instincts. If you really for care for animals as much as you allege, then my challenge to you is to do the same.

DAVE POTGIETER

GREY HAIRED MAN