Cape Town Dog Owner Arrested for Cruelty After Cropping Dog’s Ears, SA Enraged

• The South African Police Service in Cape Town arrested a dog owner for cropping his dog's ear
• Neighbours of the owner of the dog, a four-month-old American Bully, discovered after seeing it without ears that something was wrong
• The owner admitted that he paid someone R3500 to crop the ears, and he was charged with animal cruelty

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, covered criminal activities, police investigations, police shootouts and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE—The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Cape Town rescued a puppy whose owner cropped its ears.

Dog's ears cropped

According to the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, the owner was arrested on 25 October 2024 after the SPCA investigated reports from the Edgemead community. Community members who saw the four-month-old puppy with intact ears were dismayed when they saw him without his ears.

Read also

KZN SAPS arrests 3 suspects for marrying SA women off to undocumented foreigners

Dog owner arrested

An SPCA inspector investigated the incident, and the owner admitted that he hired someone and paid them R3500 to crop the ear. The entire ordeal lasted an hour and was done in his entertainment room. He was arrested and charged with animal cruelty. Troy, the puppy, was kept at the SPCA.

Chief Inspector Jaco Pieterse emphasised that ear cropping is illegal.

"No one is above the law, and those who think it is legal to crop ears will be arrested and charged for animal cruelty," he said.

Netizens furious

Dog lovers on Facebook were angered by the dog owner's incident.

Que Pasa said:

"Poor innocent dog injured in the name of vile ego."

Linda Newby said:

"This person is seriously sick if he allowed this to happen for an hour."

Read also

South African Police Service arrest Orlando rape suspect, SA relieved

Simone Gibson said:

"Thank goodness the owner was arrested."

Hayley Fredericks said:

"The person who did the cropping should be jailed as well."

Janice Barry said:

"The pain and suffering."

SPCA rescues pony

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the Cape of Good Hope SPCA rescued a pony from abuse.

An inspector driving in Kensington saw a pony pull three times its weight. He stopped the owners and rescued the pony.

Source: Briefly News