Lucrative: There’s a big demand for purebred boerboels
An angry American buyer and an outraged South African breeder this week apparently laid to rest a very public dispute over boerboels and so kept it out of the courts of both countries.
But the immediate, and perhaps long-term, future of the lucrative trade in boerboels remains at stake, buried hatchet or not.
An official investigation sparked by their altercation – into how six boerboels were shipped out of the country without the proper paperwork and in poor health – may still go ahead.
That inquiry will inevitably feature a long-running dispute about the management of the export of the distinctively South African dogs.
That, in turn, is unlikely to do any favours for a segment of the boerboel breeding community, who are threatening to take the government to court about an export ban. (See Dogfight over black breed, below)
It all started late last year when Mpumalanga breeder Pierro Erwee sent six dogs to Colorado without the medical and ownership paperwork. The dogs arrived severely traumatised and apparently had been mistreated, according to United States breeder Paul Riebe.
“You can’t get near the dogs, you can’t touch the dogs,” Riebe said. “If you touch the dogs they pee all over themselves. The dogs were like wild animals.”
Riebe took his complaint online to forums where boerboels are advertised for sale. He also lodged an official complaint with the South African department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, which is responsible for the regulation of trade.
“This has serious implications as it damages our reputation as a country,” said the department’s registrar of animal improvement, Joel Mamabolo, who confirmed a full-scale investigation was underway.
Riebe had demanded a full refund of the $13 000 (about R200 000) he said he had paid for the dogs.
Erwee initially reacted furiously to the allegations and laid the blame for the condition of the dogs at Riebe’s door. “I sent perfect dogs that are well taken care of,” Erwee wrote in a Facebook post. “Did I make a mistake by selling dogs to Paul Riebe? Yes, I did. He does not deserve one of my dogs. Because he doesn’t have respect for people or himself.”
A week after the Mail & Guardian first contacted him, Erwee made a sudden about-turn, saying he had resolved the dispute with Riebe.
“Paul Riebe said he’s happy with the dogs. They are 100%. It was just stress from the flight that affected the dogs’ condition.”
Riebe confirmed this: “Forgive and forget … we moved forward with this business together. Pierro is doing good things. It’s a ton of money and I lost a bunch giving some of the dogs away. That’s R101 775.”
But Mamabolo did reject Erwee’s suggestion that he had been cleared of any wrongdoing. “I do not know about that. Where did he win the case?”
At issue is more than a single business dispute. International demand for boerboels has shot up since 2011, and a new generation of breeders has entered the market in response to it.
A South African breeder with nearly two decades of experience, who did not want to be named, said the newcomers had been attracted by prices that have reached about R130 000 for a single animal.
That, in turn, has attracted “unethical breeders” willing to exploit loopholes – of which there is no shortage.
“I didn’t send through the paperwork because I still had two dogs with me,” Erwee said of his original dispute with Riebe. “Once he settled the outstanding amount, I sent the papers to him.”
The trade is regulated in conjunction with the South African Boerboel Breeders’ Society (SABBS). The breeders’ society confirmed the dogs had been shipped without the necessary paperwork.
This was not an uncommon practice, according to Koos van der Westhuizen, a board member of the breeders’ society, because delays in formalising paperwork led to increased shipping costs.
The experienced boerboel breeder said that in 2011 the society had decided against a proposal to establish a mechanism to confirm purebred status with DNA testing, and to require that dogs be microchipped to ensure accountability and to keep track of their trade.
“That makes it much easier to manipulate the vetting process. Many of us left SABBS then, but we returned now because the government recognises them as the legitimate forum,” the breeder said.
Dogfight over black breed
The exact origin of the boerboel is unknown. Some breeders speculate it was created from a mix of native breeds and mastiffs brought to the country by Dutch settlers.
Jan van Riebeeck brought a bullenbijter (bull biter) with him when he settled on the Cape of Good Hope’s shores in 1652. This dog is thought to be an ancestor of what would later come to be the large, loyal guard dogs.
More contentious than their past is their colour. The traditional boerboel is fawny. Whether a boerboel can also be black has split the breeders and may result in legal action.
In February, the government imposed a moratorium on the advertising and sale of black boerboels, and promised a commission of inquiry into whether they were a legitimate variation of the breed.
The decision outraged some breeders. The dogs fetch anywhere from R5 000 locally to R10 000 on the international market, mostly in the United States.
The inquiry, which was also to investigate allegations of the illegal trade in boerboels, has yet to materialise. But the government has stood firm on the interim ban.
“In the interest of the boerboel breed, and in order to ensure its sustainable conservation in the Republic of South Africa, the so-called black boerboel is not recognised as a breed in terms of Animal Improvement Act,” department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries spokesperson Steven Galane said in a statement.
“The department is still awaiting a scientific report on the black boerboel from South African Boerboel Breeders’ Society (SABBS), after which it may be lawfully regarded as a breed.”
The ban has divided the breeders’ society, the official representative body in South Africa that represents the breed. Some breeders insist the government should be challenged as soon as possible but others have agreed to wait for the results of a lineage test.
In the meantime, a group of black boerboel breeders has lodged an appeal with the department over the conduct of the registrar of animal improvement, Joel Mamabolo, who they claim is behind a conspiracy to stop them from trading.
The breeders’ society was to hold its annual general meeting at the end of June, but it has been postponed in the face of uncertainty about the outcome of the appeal and of the tests.
“If we hold this meeting, we’d have to make decisions and vote on issues that may change pending outcome of the appeal at the end of July. The SABBS committee felt we should deal with [everything] after the tests are done,” said Koos van der Westhuizen, a member of the breeders’ society board.
Not all the breeders support the decision. This month fellow board member and black boerboel breeder Johan Kruger wrote a scathing open letter, published on social media, in which he attacked Mamabolo.
The special general meeting “is a reflection on the steering committee’s inability and/or unwillingness to address the registrar’s irregular decisions and actions … while the registrar is currently only objecting to the colour black, there is no telling what he may decide to do next … He might insist that dogs that don’t have a perfect bite are disqualified. It may sound ridiculous, but it is no less devastating than banning black boerboels trade,” Kruger wrote.
He also suggested considering court action to reaffirm the breeders’ society’s authority to designate black boerboels as legitimate purebreds.
Van der Westhuizen distanced his organisation from Kruger’s statements, but agreed that the Animal Improvement Act did not prohibit the breeding of black boerboels.
“We would want as many breeders as possible at the special general meeting in September, and we would want to invite Mr Mamabolo to the meeting to give his side of the story,” he said.
He added: “As long as the SABBS does not violate the Animal Improvement Act we are okay and the law does not say anything about not being able to breed black boerboels. The person who enforces the law has a responsibility to apply it correctly.” – Govan Whittles