Cape Town - A week after an 88-year-old woman was mauled to death by her neighbour’s two pit bulls and months after a mother was scalped, and a woman left without an arm, the foundation rallying for the ban on the breed held a fruitful meeting with the Department of Agriculture for legislation to be reviewed and for non-reproduction of the breed.
The Sizwe Kupelo Foundation told Weekend Argus that its meeting with Minister of Agricultural Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza on Wednesday in Pretoria discussed investigating the genetics and DNA of the pit bull breed and claimed it wanted the department to address why the breed was not registered as a domestic animal, according to legislation.
The foundation was also joined by Change.org in the meeting, along with pit bull victim Gwen Vokes, who lost her arm during an attack.
The foundation submitted 139 0000 signatures as part of its petition to the minister, calling for the pit bull to be banned as a domestic pet.
The petition comes after a 10-year-old boy in Gelvandale, Gqebera, was mauled to death by pit bulls late last year.
Kupelo said they were positive after the meeting and were also patient in changing legislation calling for the animals DNA to be probed and for the breed not to reproduce.
“We just finished the meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and their team, where we discussed the official handing over of the petition.
“The department in our response, when we submitted and wrote to them, started engaging with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
“They are also looking at the genetics of the dogs and the DNA to identify what type of breed we are talking about.
“Where does the aggression come from?
“In the database from the Department of Agriculture, in South Africa, there is no pit bull legislation.
“Pit bulls are not a registered breed in South Africa. Hence the processes that they are busy with, also engaging with municipalities to look at the application of the existing law, and the Animal Matters Act of 1993.
“They are engaging with the Department of Justice again and to look at the possible amendment of that law in order to protect human lives.
“The department needs to work on the long-term solution as people are dying; we just had the latest victim in the Western Cape - an 88-year-old woman - and a boy attacked by a dog in East London, who fortunately survived the attack.
“We need to have a system in place to put an end to the ongoing carnage.
“The minister said they would come back to the foundation.
“We are not looking at an overnight decision. We said from the onset that the department should follow procedure with public participation in coming up with the solution.
“Those that have been identified as the breed must be castrated (males) and females sterilised.”
The minister’s spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo added they would discuss the way forward.
“We just finished a meeting with them and they delivered a petition to us. Which promised to look at it and respond to them.
“The issue of the 88-year-old can be better responded to by the municipality where the incident happened.
“They, through their by-laws, hold owners accountable for such incidents.”
The meeting comes just days after Olga Grill, 88, of Bonteheuwel was mauled by a neighbour’s two pit bulls when the animals jumped over a boundary wall between the properties.
Lewis, who is still undergoing treatment at Tygerberg Hospital, has a huge bandage over her head and shows scars on her legs, stomach and arms including her ear which had been partially ripped off.
“My life will never be the same again. I will never be able to work again or even grow hair on my head and now I am still suffering with pain,” she said.
“I want to claim for damages and I am appealing for someone to help me legally.”
The day Lewis was attacked, she had been walking in a street in Penhill when the three dogs attacked her.
The owner claimed that his dogs believed he was being attacked and reacted.
But Lewis said this was untrue.
“I was on the pavement and not near the dogs when they just ran to me and began attacking me by pushing me down and I heard he (owner) said I wanted to touch him and that is why the dogs reacted, but that is not true.”
She said she felt like her life was ending during the horrific ordeal: “The main dog, the cross-breed pit bull, was biting me on my scalp, I was in so much pain, I called out to God.”
Vokes, who is also an activist rallying for legislation to change, said her life had changed dramatically: “A cross-breed pit bull had been attacking my domestic worker and I rushed to help her. When I intervened, the dog turned on me and my right arm was ripped off. The worker is still awaiting surgery from the government hospital after also having her arm left damaged.
“The problem is that many owners do not report when their own pets turn on them.
“These animals are very popular as pets in our country and there is no by-law or control.
“I am a mother and I had to learn everything from the start: from writing to washing and cooking for my children.”