Cape Town - The Animal Welfare Society is begging the public not neuter or castrate their own pets.
The organisation has treated and saved a worrying number of adult male dogs admitted with severe trauma to their testicles, caused by rubber bands, cable ties and wire tied tightly around their testicles.
Animal Welfare Society of SA spokesperson Allan Perrins said the most recent incident included a year-old cross-breed named Hulk who was admitted by his owner in excruciating pain. Perrins said someone had cruelly tied a thick rubber band and nylon cord around Hulks testicles, causing them to fall off with secondary injuries, including an exposed spermatic cord and blood vessels.
Perrins said neutering was a major operation and required general anaesthesia and should not be done by an unqualified person.
“This barbaric and unlawful practice causes the dog tremendous pain and suffering, and it is not uncommon for some dogs in extreme agony to resort to destructive self-mutilation.
“We estimate that Hulk had been suffering for at least a week before his owner sought our help, and there is no doubt that he would have died a slow and agonising death without professional veterinary care.
“As is almost always the case the owner emphatically denied any knowledge of who or how Hulk sustained these heinous injuries, leaving it up to our inspectors to investigate and bring the perpetrators to book,” said Perrins.
Cape of Good Hope SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abrahams said this was a criminal offence in terms of the Animals Protection Act No.71 of 1962 and charges of cruelty will be brought against any individuals undertaking the neutering of their own animals.
Abrahams said those found guilty in a court of law could be sentenced to 12 months imprisonment or a fine of R40 000.
SA Mass Animal Sterilisation Trust managing director Temsin Nel said that in order to put an end to this, sterilisation should be mandatory across Cape Town, unless a permit to breed was obtained or sterilisation was deferred to a later date due to medical reasons.
Nel said it was also important that animal welfare organisations used donor funds to provide the sterilisation service.
“Once-off and ad-hoc sterilisation campaigns, such as the small annual ones sponsored by City of Cape Town, will never work, because animals die and are replaced with new ones. This renders the City's sponsored campaigns a public relations exercise for voters, and not a solution to animal birth control in disadvantaged areas,” said Nel.