In an heroic act, a nine-year-old girl sacrificed herself by saving a baby from three marauding pit bulls.
The Pooke se Bos community in Rylands has been left shocked and traumatised after the three honde rampaged through the informal settlement and left five people injured on Sunday afternoon.
Following the attacks, residents caught the dogs and killed them.
Klein Genoline Louw was carrying her neighbour’s one-year-old Andrea Magalie when the pitties charged her.
Her oupa Mustapha Armstrong, 72, says she’s lucky to have survived the vicious attack that nearly cost her her arm and left her with bite marks all over her body.
“She first lifted the baby up [when the dogs charged]. And when one dog was hit by a car by a shop owner who was trying to help, she threw the baby to someone else as the dogs kept biting her.
“She saved that baby because the dog would have killed that baby,” he says.
“They eventually let her go and went to another person. We rushed her to the hospital.
“The last time I saw her she was a little bit better but she was just in shock.
“I thought she was going to lose her arm because the dog bit her in the muscle of her upper arm, her bone was exposed.
“She has deep wounds in the head, legs and arms,” the grandpa adds.
Ricardo Myburgh says it was around 4pm on Sunday when he first spotted the dogs roving among the hokkies, before they went for his three-year-old grandson.
“I was sitting across the road in my car and saw the dogs go into the first hokkie.
“They went to my daughter and grandson, I went to them and fought them off, I used all the power I had,” he says.
“My grandson, daughter and I were left with scratches and bite marks.”
Genoline’s life was saved by Charles Baartman, who bravely intervened during the attack.
“I went to try and get the dogs off her, and they came for me.
“They bit my hand and leg, but instead of running I just stood still and knew if I moved they would kill me.
“That was when people quickly took the injured girl inside a shack,” he explains.
“People always say these dogs are friendly but I say kill them all before they kill us.”
The angry mense took the dogs, pelted them with stones and stabbed them, before setting them alight.
In a video, one outijie can be seen repeatedly bashing a white hond’s head with a stick while residents egged him on.
However, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA’s chief inspector Jaco Pieterse has urged people not to take matters into their own hands when dealing with vicious animals.
“The dogs’ bodies were taken to the SPCA premises in Grassy Park, where post mortems will be conducted,” Pieterse explains.
“We urge the public to contact the SPCA if a dog behaves aggressively or tries to bite someone.
“We will take the dog immediately. People must not take matters into their own hands – no animal deserves to endure brutality and suffering.”