Ricardo Dunn
The Bloemfontein man who was convicted last month of killing a dog by inserting a firecraker into its rectum has been relieved from his community service sentence at the SPCA.
The Bloemfontein SPCA applied to the magistrate’s court to revoke its decision after it received hundreds of letters from the public and potential funders angry at the court’s decision to have Rudolph Mulder serve part of his sentence working with animals.
Mulder was sentenced to 768 hours of community service at the Bloemfontein SPCA. Part of his sentence was that he had to go into an alcohol rehabilitation centre. He was removed from the SPCA two weeks ago and sent to Magaliesoord – — a center for alcoholics.
“We thought by having the offenders working at the SPCA they would begin to respect animals, but the public just won’t have it. Although Mulder didn’t have direct contact with any of the animals, it was just too stressful to have him here, considering the pressure we were getting from our funders,” said Marc van den Berg, representative for the Bloemfontein SPCA.
Last week six of 17 men charged, including two policemen and a traffic officer, were found guilty of instigating dog fights. They were sentenced to 120 hours of community service over a period of one year at the SAPS dog school in Pretoria. The six were also fined R4 000 each or eight months in jail with half the sentence suspended for four years.
Marcelle French, executive director of the SPCA National Council, said that the decision by the court to return 17 of the pitbull terriers to their owners was an indication of the justice system’s “blatant disregard for animal rights”. Four of the 26 confiscated pitbulls were permanently taken away from their owners.
She said that “lenient” fines such as this one were no deterrent. French said the SPCA was concerned by the recent rise in animal abuse and was calling for higher penalities for perpetrators. The total number of prosecutions from April 1994 to March 1995 was 312.
“Although legislation exists through the Animal Protection Act, the SPCA feels its hands are tied when it comes to enforcing the law.” said French. “Even more when policemen are involved in the abuse.”
She said although Mulder’s case was inexcusable it was an isolated incident. “Dog fighting is an organised form of abuse and the punishment should suit the crime,” she said. She suggested that jail sentences be mandatory for anybody convicted of animal abuse.
Meanwhile, the police and the SPCA are still investigating a second case of a German Shepherd which was found lying dead on a road in Gauteng. The dog died from a firecracker being inserted into its rectum.