By Miranda Andrew
Two adult dogs, suspected of being part of a pack that killed and ate the flesh of a KwaZulu-Natal pensioner, have been put down.
Horrified police personnel and community members on Saturday found four adult dogs, with bloodied faces and fur, feeding on the body of 69-year-old Bhekinduna Dlamini in the Highflats area of southern KwaZulu-Natal.
Community members and the police are still looking for two more dogs suspected of eating from the body of 69-year-old Bhekinduna Dlamini, who died on Friday.
SPCA staff yesterday put down the two cross-breed adults as well as 14 puppies born to one of the dogs.
"It is sad, but what can we do? The police requested that the dogs and the puppies be euthanised and that's what we have done. The two dogs and the puppies were incinerated yesterday and the remains have been buried," said Inspector Daniel Stewart, of the SPCA in Pietermaritzburg.
Police suspected the two cross-breed dogs were part of a pack of four dogs that attacked and killed Dlamini.
Captain Vincent Pandarum said the incident took place after Bhekinduna Dlamini went to the Dabulamanzi Hall to collect his pension.
The next morning, resident Vusumuzi Hadebe found the remains of the body when he went to a toilet nearby.
The police were contacted and, when they got there, they saw the pack of dogs. The SPCA were notified and the dogs were taken.
Stewart said when they were informed about the case, they had to make a 250km journey to Highflats to pick up the dogs.
"At the scene, we were told by the police that the animals attacked and killed the pensioner and they wanted the dogs put down. The owner of the dogs signed papers and handed the dogs over to the SPCA, saying that he too wanted the dogs put down," said Stewart.
The owner only did this after he was told he may face charges.
"As we loaded the dogs on to the van, two escaped," said Stewart.
Confusion arose yesterday morning when Pandarum told the media that the owner of the dog could face charges of culpable homicide if human flesh was found in the stomachs of the dogs.
"If human flesh is found in the dogs' stomachs and if the postmortem reveals that Dlamini died because of the attack, then the owner will be charged with culpable homicide," said Pandarum.
But Stewart said: "We were not told to carry out any testing on the dogs or to do any postmortems."
Other SPCA staff members questioned how police could have blamed the dogs for the death without having Dlamini's postmortem results.
Attempts to contact Dlamini's relatives were unsuccessful.