THE Uitenhage SPCA says it followed the proper procedure when a very distressed donkey’s throat was slit in Rosedale at the weekend.
Chairwoman Deirdre Swift said an SPCA inspector responded to the call on Saturday and after examining the animal, assessed that nothing could be done to save it.
Social media was abuzz when a Facebook user complained that the Uitenhage SPCA had shot the donkey and left it outside her home in Swan Street, Rosedale.
However, Swift said the donkey had not been shot.
She said a policeman was at the scene, but only there to assist with crowd control while the SPCA inspector was examining the donkey.
Police spokeswoman Lieutenant Gerda Swart confirmed this and said the policeman was not involved in putting down the donkey.
Swift said: “We understand the emotions of people. This incident was emotional for us too, because we later heard that the donkey was roaming the streets of Rosedale in distress since Friday.
“This is deeply upsetting because the municipality’s stock control unit would have been able to assist. By the time we were called, it was Saturday and the stock control unit does not work on weekends,” she said.
“Unfortunately we have limited resources. We sent an inspector and all he had was a Volkswagen Caddie bakkie.
“He was alone and could not lift the donkey. He did not have a trailer or equipment.
“Even three people would have battled.”
Swift said when the inspector examined the animal it had already collapsed and could not be saved.”
The SPCA’s usual procedure is to use a “captive bolt”, similar to a stun gun, before shooting or slitting an animal’s throat, Swift said.
“Our inspectors do not have firearms so the donkey’s throat was slit and it was then covered until the stock control unit could take it away.”
Swift said many people on social media questioned why the donkey could not be transported to a veterinarian and then euthanised.
“Livestock are never taken to a vet to be euthanised. That’s the process,” she said.
East Cape Horse Care Unit manager Megan Hope said she did not receive a call regarding the donkey.
“But if, for instance, an animal breaks both its legs, then it has to be put down,” Hope said. “It is all in the assessment of the problem.”
The post U’hage SPCA defends slitting throat of distressed donkey appeared first on HeraldLIVE.