A pack of dogs was found eating a new-born baby girl in bushes by the roadside at Ntuzuma location near Kwa-Mashu, KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday in the second incident of its kind this week, police said.
Inspector Michael Read said residents of the location found torn up parts of the baby being mauled by dogs. The head was missing and only the torso, hands and legs were found.
Read said an inquest docket was opened and police were investigating the incident to determine whether the body had been buried and dug up by the dogs or whether the new-born baby had been deliberately thrown to the dogs to eat.
A search was underway to find the mother and forensic tests were being done to find the exact cause and probable date of the infant’s death, Read said.
Earlier this week a dog was found playing with the head and arm of a baby at Manyatseng in Ladybrand, Free State police reported on Thursday.
Constable Christopher Mophiring said a woman had thought the dog was playing with a doll on Sunday.
On closer inspection, she realised it had human body parts and called the police. She discovered a hole behind a nearby toilet where the baby had been buried. Police could not determine the baby’s gender.
An 18-year-old woman admitted on Sunday that she had given birth to the baby on July 19, said Mophiring.
A post-mortem would be carried out to determine whether the baby was alive when it was buried.
Depending on the outcome, a case of murder might be opened. Meanwhile a case of concealment of birth was being investigated, said Mophiring. – Sapa