Cape Town - Western Cape animal activists and welfare organisations have sounded the alarm over a spike in the theft and unexplained disappearance of German Shepherds and other power breed dogs.
Samantha Reid, an activist from Hout Bay, said from the information she had gathered, at least 18 German Shepherds had disappeared over the last two months.
Reid said this past week she was notified of two German Shepherds that went missing in Goodwood and Firgrove.
“These dogs are being stolen to be used as guard dogs, for breeding, dog fighting.
“It is too scary to think about... I am begging the owners to exhaust all options to find their dogs,” she said.
A dog owner from Eagle Park in Grassy Park, Junaid Omarof, said he noticed that his two German Shepherds were missing on Friday morning while he was preparing to leave for work.
“I am not sure if they were stolen or what happened to them. They are about a year old now. The kids told me last week that someone tried to take one of the dogs.
“I am really sad knowing they are gone. I have made contact with most of my friends and family in the area to be on the lookout,” he said.
Spokesperson of the Animal Welfare Society, Allan Perrins, said even though they do not keep a record of stolen or missing dogs, regular calls from pet owners about missing dogs was evidence of a trend.
He said the dogs at most risk of being stolen are power breeds and unsterilised pedigree dogs.
Lolita Muller, another German Shepherd owner, said she had sleepless nights when she found out that the dog she gave up for adoption was stolen last year.
Muller, who used to live in a backyard structure in Mitchells Plain, said she put her dog, Ben, up for adoption after she suspected that it was being poisoned.
“I gave him up for adoption because I was scared that they would kill him because the guy in front used to give him food and his behaviour changed,” Muller said.
She said one of her friends alerted her to a Facebook post on a missing dog and she realised that it was Ben.
“I could not sleep and eventually I got the number of the lady who adopted him and informed the Animal Welfare Society,” she explained.
The dog was eventually rescued by the society’s inspector at a property in Grassy Park.
After being admitted to the facility, Ben was treated and reunited with Muller, who had relocated to Grassy Park and where the pair still reside.
Muller said German Shepherds were being targeted because “they are very expensive and they can protect you as a person”.
Perrins said in his experience many owners did not bother to open a case with police because the chances of recovery, especially if the pet did not have a microchip, were low, and the requirement of proof of ownership was also an inconvenience.
He said there is a thriving and lucrative black market in animal theft and he called on owners to take necessary precautionary measures.
“A neutered or spayed animal is not as valuable on the black market as an intact animal, so pet owners are encouraged to get their pets sterilised.
“Pets should as far as practicable be brought indoors at night and no-one should keep a dog on an unfenced property where they can easily be stolen or lured away for sinister reasons,” he said.
The chief inspector at Cape of Good Hope SPCA, Jaco Pieterse said: “The SPCA encourages dog owners to sterilise their dogs because this will eliminate the breeding factor and dogs will not be stolen for breeding. Also microchip your dogs so that when they are found, then the original owner can be traced easily.”
Weekend Argus