Cape Town - Despite a brief apology issued by a man who took a photo of himself holding a knife to a cat’s face, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA was still looking into the incident and asked the alleged suspect to hand himself over.
On Tuesday, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA took to Facebook seeking the community’s help to locate a perpetrator who shared a picture of himself holding a cat by its neck with a pointed knife on its face.
On its Facebook page, SPCA said: “The Cape of Good Hope SPCA is currently investigating a case of animal cruelty and possible contraventions of the Animal Protection Act of 71 1962 involving a Facebook post in which a cat is held tight/ strangled by the neck and threatened with a knife.
“The image was posted by a Jayden Faans and the Cape of Good Hope SPCA seeks his whereabouts for questioning.”
Apologising on his Facebook page with an attached “proper picture” with the cat, Jayden Faans said: “Hi friends, family and animal lovers. As you can see the cat is not hurt. It is perfectly fine and healthy.
“The picture I took on June 20 was just for a meme and I do understand it was a stupid joke. From the bottom of my heart, I do apologise to every single person out there whom I deeply offended.”
According to the SPCA’s spokesperson Belinda Abraham, the apology issued was owed to the public as the incident caused outrage.
Also, Abraham said if the suspect was truly remorseful, he should hand himself over to the SPCA so he could be held accountable for his actions.
“We haven't seen the cat yet, and Mr Faans is yet to come forward. If he is truly remorseful, he should do the right thing and come forward to the SPCA so he can be held accountable for his actions.
“As with any allegation of animal cruelty there is a process that must be followed.
“Should we decide to open a case against Mr Faans, he can make his apology to a magistrate and the magistrate can decide if this is acceptable.
“An apology to the public was owed as this incident understandably caused outrage but the cat is the victim here.
“Mr Faans also clearly needs to be educated on the fact that cruelty to animals is not funny and that pet ownership does not give anyone the right to exploit / harm them for the purposes of entertainment.”
“If found guilty of contravening the Animals Protection Act No.71 of 1962, individuals can face a prison term of 12 months and/or a fine of R40 000.
“As an organisation that fights animal cruelty every day, we appeal to everyone to please be responsible with the content you generate, words and images hold immense influence and please never use your platforms to endorse animal cruelty or any unkind act,” Abrahams said.
Faans was contacted via his Facebook account, but did not respond.
siviwe.melapi@inl.co.za