21 Feb 2013

Unless something is done, residents of Lesoma will become destitute from stray dogs that terrorise their livestock, especially goats.

The dogs are more destructive to livestock than jackals, say residents.

One of the residents, Ms Nthusang Ernest remained with half of her once promising herd of 61 goats which she acquired through the Youth Development Fund.

“I am now left with only 31 goats,” she said in an interview. Ms Ernest lost 30 goats to the dogs in less than six months, that is, between the months of August 2012 and January this year.

“I brought the matter before our chief and the suspected owners denied their dogs were responsible,” she said.

She complained that the people in Lesoma, especially those whose dogs killed livestock, refused to cooperate.

Another victim, Ms Peggy Mogamisi’s ordeal is almost similar. She lost seven goats. At one point she found one of the dogs killing her goat.

 She took the matter up with the owner of the dog, but the owner said his dog was not the killer.

“I am afraid that every time my herd leaves the kraal, there will be one goat short when they return,” she said.

Like Ms Ernest, she reported her case to Lesoma police but they never came back to her. She also brought the case before the village chief but to no avail.

“I feel that certain people in our village are feared, nobody wants to testify and point fingers at their dogs,” she said resignedly.  Ms Mogamisi was afraid she would become destitute unless something was done about the dogs.

Another resident, Mr Kenneth Moyoba decided to go into pig farming after he lost all his 18 goats, the last having initially survived the attack only to be killed a few days later.

Like the others, he said he reported this matter to the village chief but nothing came of it. 

He then resorted to keeping pigs and consequently built an enclosed structure to keep them safe.

Mr Moyoba said this was not a new problem as dogs in Lesoma had been hunting and killing goats for food for some time now.

However, the headman of Tebele Ward in Lesoma, Mr Moqakhwe Matoteng said the reason why the cases were not resolved was because the complainants refused to identify the owners of the dogs.

“In fact, they never come to me to report directly. It is all hearsay,” he said.

He said he had also fallen victim to the dogs, but confronted the dog owner and settled the matter.

Asked why they had waited so long to address this issue, the acting agriculture coordinator, Mr Boitshwarelo Motshewa said, “we only found out about this at the launch of Vision 2016 last month when a VDC member brought it to our attention in her remarks.”

He further said that since learning about this problem, they had visited a few projects to establish the veracity of the statements.

“We will be having a meeting with the villagers on the 25th of this month to map a way forward,” he said.

Mr Motshewa said his department would liaise with the council bye-law office to discuss the possibility of killing all stray dogs in the Lesoma area and charge owners whose dogs killed livestock.

The Chobe District Council Bye-law Section 5(1) states, ‘that no person shall allow any troublesome, ferocious or dangerous dog to be at large outside the premises on which such a dog is normally kept.’

The section further notes that, ‘failure to comply with this shall grant any authorised officer, in this case, the council secretary or any officer duly authorised, to detain such a dog or any that is found roaming or straying at large in a public space.

 "If not claimed within seven days, such a dog shall be deemed abandoned and in such event the council secretary may give it the green light to be destroyed".

As it turns out, the council had no kennels to keep such dogs for the required seven days. According to the council’s bye law superintendent, Mr Ndobiwa Mashaba that was the reason why implementing and enforcing this bye-law became tricky.

“However, in the absence of a kennel we engage the veterinary department to kill the dog if it is deemed dangerous,” explained Mr Motshewa.

For his part, Mr Mashaba explained that the law treated any dog that roamed around outside its premises as a stray dog and would treated by the bye-law as such.

He encouraged every dog owner to keep an eye on their dogs and to ensure they were fed as hunger would cause them to become a nuisance.

 “I also wish to encourage the public to report such cases to our office or the village chief.”

Meanwhile village chief, Kgosi Lesoma Lesoma said no cases of marauding dogs had reached his office.

“They only tell me of such cases when we meet on the streets, no one has ever opened a case like this formally,” he said.

Kgosi Lesoma felt the villagers should report these cases to the police.

 “We have also had cases where people settled these issues between themselves,” he said.

If he had it his way, all stray dogs would be killed.

“And dog owners should fence their yards and ensure that their dogs never left the yard under no circumstances,” he said.

With no one to turn to, residents are pinning their hopes on the outcome of the Monday meeting. ENDS