Following the death of an eight-year-old Olebogeng Mosime over the weekend, 35 were handed over on Monday, while the rest were surrendered on Tuesday.

The Bloemfontein Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has requested the public to surrender any dog that may imperil the lives of the community, the families or owners of dogs.

Mosime was mauled by a Pit Bull in Vista Park, Bloemfontein, on Saturday 12 November 2022. Members of the South African Police Services responded to the incident and due to the unique circumstances, the Pit Bull was shot. 

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A total of 41 countries around the world have banned Pit Bulls. These include Spain, Denmark and parts of Brazil.

No African country is listed by the advocacy group Ban Pit Bulls, which is calling for the banning of this breed as a domestic pet.

Bloemfontein residents have expressed mixed reactions to the call by the Mangaung Metro to surrender their Pit Bulls to the SPCA.

The SPCA in Bloemfontein says it’ll assess all the Pit Bulls that were surrendered by the owners.

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While some dog owners have heeded calls by Mangaung Metro to surrender their pit bulls, the SPCA says the call has received a lukewarm response in other parts of the province.

“The response was very good yesterday, we took in 35 pit bulls and today until this moment we took in 14 already. And the calls are coming in all the way, so I think we will also today take in about 30 to 35 animals. When they arrive at the SPCA then we have the vet to first assess them and an animal behavioural expert to look at the behaviour of the animals and from there we will deal with the animals,” says SPCA Chief Inspector Reinet Meyer.

In Bloemfontein, some residents have heeded the call by the metro to surrender their dogs. But other owners have refused as they’ve spent a lot of money taking care of their beloved dogs. Others say they need them for security.

“We take care of the dogs, we take them to the vet when they are sick,” says Cambeno Jansen, a dog breeder.

Pit Bull owners say good dogs become bad because of bad owners.

“Other ones, they are cutting the ears of the dogs, other ones are treating the dogs nicely,” a Pit Bull owner says.

“We are only women in the house, so we are keeping this dog for security,” another Pit Bull owner explains.

“Any dog can become bad in the hands of a bad owner. And any dog can be good if it gets an owner who is good,” another added.

SABC News