At about 11.30am on Friday, 25 October, a concerned shopper at Westgate shopping centre noticed one man in the parking lot of the centre, and one across the road, both selling puppies. The most concerning part about this was that the small dogs were exposed to the scorching heat with no food or water.
Concerned for the puppies, the shopper contacted the councillor for Ward 85, Sonja Meyer, through a Whatsapp voice note. Meyer immediately contacted BCI Security owner, Corinda Loots, who has a K9 unit. Loots was quick to respond to the message but was unable to send out the K9 unit as they were on another call. Subsequently, she contacted Dowry to investigate.
Marcel Jonker from Dowry was on the scene shortly after, and called the Roodepoort/ Krugersdorp SPCA who were quick to follow up. Upon arrival and investigation, two dehydrated puppies were found in a crate. A third one had unfortunately already been sold, but luckily the buyer returned to the scene to find out what the commotion was about.
He thankfully provided a full statement and returned the puppy, and Dowry was able to open a case against the two men. Not much could be done regarding the charges against the men, but the puppies were taken by the SPCA for their safety. The two men also agreed to bring the mother of the puppies into the centre to be spayed.
Community members are implored not to buy puppies being sold under these or any suspicious circumstances. Doing this encourages suspects to sell the dogs, and some puppies are even stolen to be sold.
