Durban - The government will have the final say on whether or not pit bulls should be banned as domestic animals after two children died in different attacks within weeks of each other.
The issue became a national talking point when the Sizwe Kupelo Foundation started a campaign after 10-year-old Storm Nuku was killed by his family’s two pit bulls in Gelvandale in the Eastern Cape in September.
Kupelo told the Independent on Saturday that their campaign gained traction instantly, followed by a slump and was again revived when 8-year-old Olebogeng Mosime from Bloemfontein was killed by his neighbour’s pit bulls last week. The dogs had jumped over a fence to attack Mosime.
Since the latest child death, the owners of at least 50 pit bulls voluntarily surrendered their dogs to the care of the SPCA in Bloemfontein.
Every year dozens of men, women and children are mauled and forever disfigured if they survive pit bull attacks.
Likewise, experts say pit bulls are starved, tortured, drugged, sometimes even cut open to become drug mules, but mostly to participate in dog fights where the stakes are high and death is inevitable.
Authorities say figures on dog attacks are unknown because many cases go unreported and money is often used to buy silence.
Now there is a divide between those who want the dog breed to be banned as pets, and those who oppose it because they say the dogs are not to blame for the attacks.
Both sides have started online petitions hoping to capture as much support as possible and the signatures are expected to be submitted to Thoko Didiza, the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural development for a decision.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) says it does not support a ban.
NSPCA special investigations unit manager Nazareth Appalsamy said: “We do not support the banning of any breed in the country, we never have and we never will.”
Appalsamy said they would support stronger regulations for dogs regarded as power breeds like pit bulls, rottweilers, bull terriers and boerboels.
This, he said, would help the animals and people when they were hurt by the dogs.
He said Didiza had the power to make regulations in terms of Section 10 of the Animals Protection Act.
The regulations would include licences, micro-chipping the dogs so owners could be found and help control the breeding, which was “out of control” because people were only interested in making money.
The dogs should also be sterilised so they are calmer and more controllable and this would also take away their urge to go in search of mating partners, said Appalsamy.
He said while many people argued that pit bulls were placid, they were actually bred to fight and the owners had to ensure that they were kept in proper enclosures.
“There are lots of irresponsible owners and breeders and we don't know when an animal will turn on a human,” he said.
Appalsamy said pit bull breeding was a major problem in KwaZulu-Natal and recently a Pietermaritzburg man was found with 17 dogs on one property.
Some were taken away but the others remained in his custody.
Appalsamy said dog fights were an ongoing problem and hard to quell because it happened late at night and in remote areas which made it difficult to get intelligence.
He said big money exchanged hands in dog fighting, from R2 000 per dog to get into a fight and more than R100 000 in prize money, depending on the level of the fight in which they participated.
Losing dogs were often shot dead because they had embarrassed the owners, said Appalsamy.
Currently the NSPCA’s special investigating unit has 60 dog fighting cases pending.
Several countries have banned pit bulls, including Singapore, the Netherlands, Poland and France.
In South Africa growing calls to have the breed banned as pets have been countered by those who say pit bulls are the real victims.
Animal behaviourist Estelle Smith has worked with pit bulls for 30 years and runs the Underdog South Africa Pitbull Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre.
Smith said pit bulls were loving companion dogs, more intelligent than other breeds, but often bred just for dog fighting.
Smith said real pit bulls were bred on bloodlines but often people bred pit bulls on looks without knowing whether or not it was a thoroughbred. While opposed to the ban, she was in favour of imposing regulations.
“You have to prove that you have a pit bull with a DNA test. And if you have a pit bull then you must have a licence and it must be micro-chipped and you must sign sterilisation contracts,” said Smith.
She said the abuse of pit bulls was rife and she has often rescued dogs which were addicted to drugs and suffered from withdrawal symptoms, which made them violent.
Recently she also rescued a dog which suffered from “vaginal prolapse” because it had repeatedly been raped by a group of teenage boys.
“They need to stop the breeding immediately because it is a vicious cycle, it’s snowballing and more dogs are biting people because more dogs are being abused. Cruelty in this country is extremely high,” said Smith.
She said a “real” pit bull loved attention and cuddles and all her children and grandchildren had grown up with them.
Associate Professor of Law at the University of Pretoria, Melanie Murcott called for sensitivity in dealing with the matter and for the vulnerabilities of the people and the animals involved to be respected.
“South Africans have a complex relationship with dogs because of the way the word dog was used in the apartheid years by white people in relation to black people and because of the restrictions on black people owning dogs, among other things, so our apartheid history makes this issue very complex and divisive,” said Murcott.
She said both groups had legitimate concerns and that a ban was “a blunt instrument” which wouldn't necessarily address people’s concerns.
Murcott said if a national law regulating a breed of any animal was introduced there would have to be a very strong justification for it.
However, South Africa had a long history of constructive dialogue and the government should facilitate constructive dialogue on this matter, said Murcott.
Kupelo, a former journalist, said that in 10 years time he didn’t want to see that people were still being killed by dogs.
“We want pit bulls and all other power breeds banned. Regulate those breeds so that not everyone can keep them. There must be conditions for ownership,” he said.
Kupelo said over the past few weeks they had been contacted by many people, some of them pit bull owners who had been mauled by their own dogs and lost limbs.
He said the psychological scars caused by pit bull attacks were bigger than the physical ones, yet the victims were not offered counselling and the overwhelming complaint was that the owners of the dogs responsible for the injuries were not remorseful and did not offer any support, not even to help the victim who was bleeding or in agony.
He said pit bulls were like loaded guns which could go off at any time.
“The dog is equivalent to a high calibre weapon,” he said.
Castration, sterilisation, micro-chipping and the prevention of cross-breeding which created “monsters” should all be imposed, Kupelo said.
“The ministry must give direction to the nation. If they do nothing about this, history will judge them,” he said.
Kupelo also cautioned the public that there were fake social media posts saying his foundation would pay anyone who reported “a home with the breed”.
Kupelo said they were waiting for the Minister of Agriculture to give them a date for when they could submit their petition, which already had more than 95 000 signatures.
This was confirmed by the department’s spokesman, Reggie Ngcobo.
“They have made contact with the department (to arrange) a date to bring their memorandum. We are engaging them on a date that will be suitable for all parties,” said Ngcobo.
The Independent on Saturday