Tantyi location residents could hardly believe that a man found dead on the street was not killed by robbers, but a pack of vicious dogs.
Tantyi location residents could hardly believe that a man found dead on the street was not killed by robbers, but a pack of vicious dogs.
Some people initially believed the man, a well-known car guard in his 50s, had been robbed while walking home late on 3 August. A man found his body along Z Street in the early hours the following morning. He stopped a police vehicle driving in the area and informed officers about the body.
Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said the scene that met officers was tragic. She confirmed that post-mortem results showed that the man died as a result of dog bites. "A post mortem was conducted and the victim died as a result of loss of blood due to his injuries suffered by the bites of the dogs," Govender said.
Police have opened an inquest docket for investigation, she said, and are in the process of planning a joint operation with relevant community stakeholders to rid the town of stray dogs. Tantyi residents are concerned about packs of dogs roaming the area, and it’s not the first time people have been attacked.
Locals spoke on condition of anonymity, not wanting to accuse neighbours of neglecting their dogs. A man living near the area where the car guard was killed told Grocott's Mail that dogs on the top corner of S Street were particularly aggressive. “You have to watch out when you walk past that area, especially at night, because those dogs are very dangerous,” he said.
Young children are terrified of walking in that area because the dogs are very aggressive, even during the day. One parent said he couldn’t even send his children to the nearby shop. “At first I thought the children were making excuses because they were lazy,” the man said, “but after this I understand why they are so uncomfortable walking in that area.”
In February 2013 Grocott’s Mail spoke to a Xolani man who was nearly mauled to death by a dogs roaming the streets last year. He barely survived after a vicious pack of dogs attacked him on two different occasions on Somngesi Street.
The man who spoke of his brutal attack on condition of anonymity told Grocott’s Mail that he was lucky to survive. “I spent close to two weeks in Livingstone Hospital after I was bitten by those dogs,” he said of his second harrowing encounter. On both occasions the man was walking down Somngesi Street at night when the dogs leapt from the shadows and started biting him until someone living nearby came to his rescue.
Meanwhile another Xolani resident, Sindiwe Mata, narrowly avoided being bitten by a ferocious pack of dogs near Royi Street in February. “There are about 12 dogs in that house and as soon as one of them came out the others surrounded me. I was so afraid I was still shaking when I got home,” Mata told Grocott’s Mail.
Municipal Spokesperson Mncedisi Boma said a house may only have two dogs and residents must approach the municipality if they wish to own a third dog. “The municipality will grant permission to people who wish to own three dogs, but if people have more than two dogs we will just notify them that they should not replace the third dog when it dies,” Boma said.
