As animal organisations see shocking stories of abuse, they have called for harsher penalties for perpetrators.
The Garden Route SPCA said the law needs to be better enforced as it sees more cases of animal cruelty.
The organisation laid charges against two people for abusing a cat and dog at the weekend.
It said the cat had been burned, and all the hair on her body was singed, while the dog was killed in Thembalethu, George.
“According to the owners, they do not know what happened to the cat. She is currently under sedation. Hopefully, her lungs are not damaged. At this stage, we ask for prayers and assistance for her medical bill,” Garden Route SPCA said in a statement.
“We also got called out to where a female dog was killed. According to eyewitnesses, this is not the first dog that was killed by the accused. Apparently, they eat the dogs.
“We can only pray that she was dead before the skinning took place. This we will only know after her post-mortem tomorrow. We took all her puppies and her body to the SPCA.
“A case has been opened and one man was arrested.”
Garden Route SPCA general manager Salomé Bruyns said there are a lot of animal cruelty cases, but many of them went cold and some did not make it to court.
She added that there needs to be better enforcement of laws that are designed to protect animals.
Cheryl Lyn’s Rescue Organisation founder, Cheryl-Lyn Potgieter said she gets a lump in her throat seeing how animals are ill-treated at the hands of human beings, adding that those guilty of cruelty need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
“I recently dealt with the case where a dog was burnt with boiling water and suffered severe pain, apparently someone in Dunoon burnt him with boiling water. Unfortunately, he had to be put to sleep, he was in my arms.”
She said he could barely eat and after trying to nurse him back to health for two days, vets said there was nothing more they could do for him.
“When Goldie died in my arms I held back tears because I so badly wanted to save him.
“I do wish that I could one day afford a small holding to own a sanctuary for these type of animals who suffer. I so badly want to save them all but unfortunately, it is impossible,” Potgieter said.
Cape Times