The Zimbabwe National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) has reacted strongly to a feature published by the Mail & Guardian Online in mid-January about the fate of former pets and farm animals in Zimbabwe.
The article, titled “Zimbabwe’s animal victims find refuge in SA”, described how one Labrador puppy, called Batty, had his eyes gouged out, reportedly by ruling-party militants. The dog wandered around the bush for days before he was rescued by animal rights activists and airlifted to South Africa.
There he was treated at the Wetnose Animal Rescue Centre in Pretoria, the article said.
“At least 5 000 white-owned farms have been seized in Zimbabwe since the redistribution programme started. Dogs, cats, hamsters, rabbits, geese, swans, horses and cattle have been slaughtered in the ensuing chaos,” it added.
The article described how many animals were left behind when white farm owners were forced off their land in Zimbabwe, only to be tortured or killed. Many of these were said to be flown to South Africa for treatment or to be reunited with their owners.
However, the Zimbabwe NSPCA said that Batty the Labrador pup did not have his eyes gouged out by war veterans, but was brought to a SPCA clinic by its owner, who had noticed something wrong with the dog’s eyes. The owner then decided not to keep the dog.
The SPCA had trouble placing the dog with a new owner, and eventually a veterinarian at the Avondale veterinary practice decided to remove Batty’s sightless, underdeveloped eyes.
Only after his operation Batty was sent to the Wetnose shelter in Pretoria, the Zimbabwe NSPCA claimed.
It also pointed out that Zimbabwe NSPCA inspectors and the police are the only people authorised to rescue animals from farms. The original article said the dog was “rescued by animal rights activists”, and neither the NSPCA nor the police rescued the dog.
“It is the height of irresponsibility for Wetnose to claim that war veterans mutilated the dog, when they did not. Statements such as this could severely jeopardise our work with animals on farms,” the NSPCA said.
“Hamsters, rabbits, geese and swans have not been ‘slaughtered in the ensuing chaos’ … but have simply been mentioned … as being among the variety of animals that our team has rescued,” it added.
The Wet Nose Animal Rescue Centre in South Africa did not respond kindly to the Zimbabwe NSPCA’s response to the Batty story.
In a written statement, Wet Nose said it has been involved in the rescue of Zimbabwe animals for the past three-and-a-half years and has found new homes and reunited more than 1 500 animals with their owners who had lost their farms.
“Meryl Harrison [chief inspector of the Zimbabwe NSPCA] has no right to put false facts into writing and try and discredit our organisation or our work whereby so many animals have benefited,” said Tracy Forte, a member of the Wet Nose board of directors, in the statement.
Forte said Wet Nose has a taped conversation with Harrison, which was recorded last week and contains “many false allegations and many contradictions”.
She said her organisation is now seeking legal action on the matter.
“One cannot send a press release to the media stating: this is the true facts — and then say ‘I assumed’,” she said.
“It is the height of irresponsibility for someone in her position to make false accusations when not having all the facts and to try to blacken other organisations’ good work,” said Forte.
Wet Nose also attached a letter from Gary Stevens, the veterinarian who had treated Batty.
In his letter, Stevens said in February 2003 a dog had been brought to Avondale veterinary surgery by Friend Animal Foundation.
“The dog had a few bruises but the main injuries were to the eyes. Both eyes had been severely mutilated,” he said.
After treating Batty and taking it back to the Friend Animal Foundation, the dog was sent to Wet Nose in South Africa.
“I personally did the export certificate,” he said.
The dog that had a natural problem with its eyes had been a different one, according to Stevens.
“Several weeks later, in the middle of March, I saw a different puppy from Friend Animal Foundation. This puppy had a condition called microphthalmia,” he said.
This is a condition where the eyeballs did not develop properly and the dog would have been blind from birth.
“We elected to take the eyes out to improve the dog’s quality of life,” Stevens said.
He did not know what happened to the dog after he had treated it.
Wet Nose said Stevens has also indicated that he was considering legal action against Harrison and the Zimbabwe NSPCA for bringing his work and his practice into disrepute.
Forte concluded by saying Wet Nose’s time should be spent on animals, rather than on statements that aim to discredit it.
“We have the animal’s best interest at heart and do not have time for such pettiness and false accusations.”