Cape Town - The Cape of Good Hope SPCA is looking for a home for one of its rescue dogs, Sophie, after its first and second owner died.
In 2015, Sophie’s owner held himself hostage and shot some of his dogs, but she managed to escape and wound up at the SPCA. Now her new owner has died and Sophie is back at the SPCA.
SPCA communications manager Marisol Gutierrez said Sophie was initially at the SPCA for almost a year because of the circumstances under which she was admitted. After finally going to a new home, her owner died this year and Sophie was brought back to the SPCA.
Sophie is a mixed-breed Kelpie and is about 8 years old. Gutierrez described her as a gentle, sensitive, soft dog who loved companionship and going for walks.
“We’re hoping that it’s third time lucky for Sophie, whose life has been marked by loss for so long. She is an innocent victim of circumstances and continues to be at the mercy of factors that are beyond her control,” Gutierrez said.
When the IOL reported the tragic incident of Sophie’s first owner, he had a total of 13 that were traumatised by the incident that of deadly stand-off between the owner and the police in 2015 that resulted in the owner fatally shooting himself. (https://www.iol.co.za/news/one-shot-ends-12-hour-standoff-pics-1857963)
In the article, police spokesman captain FC van Wyk said the owner had been holed up in the house in Hazendal for over 12 hours after he shot a constable who had accompanied city law enforcement officers to confiscate dogs from his property.
There has been a spate of dog attack this week as tension rises regarding the debate to ban pit bulls as domestic animals in South Africa after numerous dog attacks on children this year.
Over the weekend, there were three separate incidents of dogs being burned to death in communities, in one incident a child was harmed by a pack of three pit pulls and in another, a child was fatally harmed by a dog.
Another petition was now making its rounds on social media by pitbull rescue organizations calling for stricter measures and balances for the pitbull breed and that banning the Pitbull breed was discrimination.
Sanchia Pienaar, who started the petition said, “All breeders, Breeding organizations Registration bodies, Illegal, Backyard, and unregistered breeders must be banned. A breeding registration body must be held accountable and forced by law to have DNA genetic testing done on all breeding pairs.”
kristin.engel@inl.co.za