An 8-year-old child has been mauled to death by a pit bull. The incident is said to have occurred on Saturday, 12 November, in the Vista Park area in Bloemfontein.
According to police reports, the dog that killed grade 3 learner, Olebogeng Mosime, from Roseview Primary, had allegedly belonged to the neighbour.
It was said that the dog, which had been locked away, escaped and went over the fence into the neighbour’s yard.
Olebogeng had been playing outside by himself, when the dog charged at him. It is alleged that the dog locked its jaw into the child’s neck and chest.
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Pit bull covered in blood
Emergency services were called out to attend to the scene, and told that a dog had bitten a child. Upon their arrival, however, emergency services personnel found the child lying dead by the garage door.
The pit bull was still in the yard, covered in blood. It is then said that the emergency response officer then retrieved his firearm and shot the dog, but the dog did not go down.
It was only when SAPS members arrived and opened multiple shots that the dog went down.
According to reports, South Africa has the highest incidence of dog attack deaths in the world, relative to population.
Just last month, a 10-year-old boy from Gqeberha, named Storm Nuku was also mauled to death by the family’s two pit bulls.
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Meanwhile, more than 45 000 people have signed a petition to ban South Africans from keeping pit bulls as pets.
Petition banning pit bulls as pets
The Sizwe Kupelo Foundation started this petition which it is putting forward to Minister Thoko Didiza of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
The foundation says that the call has been necessitated by the attacks which seem to continue unabated.
Founder and patron, Sizwe Kupelo, wrote: “We cannot continue losing young people like Storm Nuku to these vicious dogs that have shown time and again that they should not be kept as pets.
“The defence by pit bull lovers that it is how you raise the dog does not hold water. So many people, including joggers, have been attacked and killed by pit bulls.
“It is time that the South African government takes decisive steps and impose a complete ban on the ownership of pit bulls as domestic animals.”
