A DOG was impaled on a palisade fence in Jack’s Close on the East Bank on Saturday night, in an attempt to flee the noise of what sounded like fireworks.
A vet later euthanised the dog, a Rhodesian ridgeback male of about four years old.
Neighbour Barbara Main said she and her partner Greg Olsen head a bang and then a howl at about 8.30pm.
“We rushed outside and tried to lift the dog off the fence. We know he’s spooked by bangs, and probably tried to run away,” Main said.
“He latched onto my elbow with his mouth and then my thumb. The dog wasn’t to blame – he was scared and in pain.”
Olsen opened the dog’s jaws and they phoned the owner, who was away in Port Elizabeth. He in turn phoned his father-law who arrived with a vet.
“They had to tranquilise him and then lifted him off the fence. But his gut was pierced and his intestines were out. There was nothing she [the vet] could do so she euthanised him on the spot,” Main said.
She believed the fireworks had been set off at the Krantz braai area, as a loud party had been going on there that night, the noise of which could be heard at their home on the East Bank.
“I went down to the hospital for the bite on my hand and the Krantz was packed with cars and people, with braai fires going. Lots more crackers were let off that night.”
She said the hospital emergency room was filled with people, and realising she would have a long wait, decided to go home. “I waited till Monday for a tetanus shot at the chemist.”
Main reported the incident at the Port Alfred police charge office and also raised the matter with Ward 10 councillor Ray Schenk.
On Tuesday, Sunshine Coast Tourism manager Sandy Birch, who has previously expressed concern over the distress caused to animals by fireworks, told TotT it was more likely the fireworks had been set off in Station Hill.
But police spokeswoman Captain Mali Govender said: “The incident/ complaint was attended to and it was established that it was a vehicle. The driver was revving the car and it backfired which sounded like fireworks. The driver was warned by members of the SAPS.”
Whatever the source of the noise which frightened the dog, Main was distraught. “He was a gorgeous dog. If he barked at night you knew something was happening in the road.”
