Street children asking for money or food is nothing new, but now they’re asking for money in exchange for stolen puppies they carry with them.
Street children asking for money or food is nothing new, but now they’re asking for money in exchange for stolen puppies they carry with them.
People often pity the puppies and, like Stuart Williams, they feel they must "take them off [the children’s]hands". However, shortly after he bought a puppy from a street child, Williams, a Rhodes student, found his puppy, Gees, missing from his Grahamstown home. "We woke up one morning and our dog was gone."
According to Williams, it is unlikely that Gees could have escaped, as he was too big to fit through the fencing surrounding the home. He believes that the "chances are good that he was stolen." However, Williams’ story has a happy ending. A woman bought Gees from another street child and placed a poster in Pick n Pay, looking for a good home for him. Williams came across the poster and was reunited with his pet.
Posters for missing dogs can often be found in supermarkets such as Pick n Pay, and, according to Nicolette Armansin, the manager of the SPCA, they receive a number of reports from people who suspect that their animals have been stolen. However, these reports are not often filed with the SAPS. Police spokesperson, Ndishavhelathi Momuthubi says: "It is very rare to find a case relating to the theft of dogs." Therefore, though it is possible that the street children’s puppies are stolen property, it cannot be proven.
Armansin often has to deal with puppies that are confiscated from street children and brought to them. She attributes the situation, in part, to the “huge problem with stray animals in Grahamstown.” According to Armansin, strays often result from a lack of sterilization or a lack of fencing that leads to dogs getting abandoned or lost. They are then easily picked up by people who often mistreat them through abuse, neglect or ignorance.
The young owners of these dogs resort to begging to feed themselves, and are not able to afford the necessary vaccines for their dogs. This goes against the by-law upheld by Makana Municipality that states that: “Anyone who keeps an animal/animals within the jurisdiction of the municipality shall cause all animals to be vaccinated”.
Armansin believes that the treatment of the dogs goes against further by-laws as well, and insists that "the police and traffic department should enforce the by-laws" and bring the animals in to the SPCA.
For the problem to be fixed, Armansin also suggests that more strays need to be collected and brought to the SPCA by the community as well as by the municipality. “Identification of animals is also important,” says Armansin. This can be as simple as buying a collar and a tag for your dog.
