Cape Town - Less than a week after Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza agreed to meet the Sizwe Kupelo Foundation to accept its petition calling for the ban of pit bulls as domestic pets, yet another pit bull attack has claimed another life, this time the victim was an 88-year-old grandmother.
Olga Grill of Bonteheuwel was mauled by a neighbour’s two pit bulls when they jumped over a makeshift boundary wall between their yards on Tuesday afternoon.
When the Cape Argus arrived at the Grills’ residence in Loganberry Street, her 68-year-old son, Graham Woodman, was combing through the weeds in the backyard in search of his mother’s right foot.
Grill was so viciously mauled that an arm and a leg were ripped from her body.
Woodman said he had left in search of casual work before 4am on Tuesday and his mother was still asleep. Upon his return, when he knocked and shouted and there was no response, he knew something was wrong.
He said when he entered the yard he found his mother’s body lying on the grass, just a metre away from the clothes line where he thought she might have gone out to fetch her socks.
Initially, Woodman said he thought his mother had been raped, but he was alarmed when he saw blood on her face and the muscles on her arm ripped off.
Woodman said his mother knew not to exit the house from the back when the gate between the yards was opened, and to approach the neighbours from the front door when she wanted something in the backyard.
“She wasn’t sick, but she was frail and her death is a big loss for me as it was only the two of us,” he said.
“What hurts me the most is that just this one day that I wasn’t home, something like this happened to her.”
On April 4, Grill would have turned 89 and Woodman said he had planned a “nice surprise” for her.
The dog’s owner, Shafiek du Plooy, 23 – who has vowed not to keep dogs again – described the female and male pit bulls as “nice”.
Du Plooy said the gate between the two yards was usually opened between 7pm and 8pm and closed at 9am. He said he could not say what could have triggered the attack.
He said the dogs had never been aggressive, and were never chained, or on leashes when in public spaces.
Du Plooy has had the pit bulls for four years and during this time he said he had not experienced problems with them. He said the incident was unfortunate.
City’s Law Enforcement spokesperson Wayne Dyason said the dogs were surrendered by the owner and taken to the SPCA in Grassy Park.
SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abrahams said the organisation was deeply saddened by the incident, which highlighted the need for the development and implementation of stronger regulations on the keeping of and breeding of power breeds of dogs.
Abrahams said the organisation would await the finalisation of the investigation which will be conducted by law enforcement. She said the fate of the dogs would be decided based on their investigation.
Sizwe Kupelo Foundation founder, Sizwe Kupelo, said this was yet another illustration that this dog breed needed to be removed from society.
He said he called for the government to act with speed in deciding on the matter, which was raised by the foundation last year. Over 139 000 people have signed an online petition to ban pit bulls as domestic pets.
“We are happy that eventually the Office of the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has confirmed its intention to meet with us to discuss this issue, which is threatening South Africans’ lives.
“We regret the fact that yet another life has been lost to the pit bull breed. I’m sure South Africans will now agree that we are living with a monster that needs to be removed from our society,” Kupelo said.
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said the Bishop Lavis police were investigating an inquest case and the circumstances of the incident were under investigation. He said there was no foul play suspected at this stage.