There have been reports of a spike in the illegal street sales of puppies in Cape Town.
|||Cape Town - There have been reports of an increase in the illegal street sales of puppies across the city, with sellers demanding anything from R100 up to R850 each.
The pups, some just two weeks old, are sold on the street, outside markets and on beaches, with hot spots being Gardens, Hout Bay and the CBD, said the SPCA.
Dr Cathy Wahl, of Kloof Vet in Green Point, said they had treated about 10 puppies in recent weeks.
Most came in with tick bite fever, which could be costly to treat, but she warned that people also risked infecting their own dogs with distemper, a dangerous viral illness with no known cure, or parvovirus, a highly contagious viral disease that can produce a life-threatening illness.
She said if a dog gets distemper – which spreads like wildfire – it would die.
“People might not even know the puppy was sick because there is an incubation period which can be up to 10 days where the puppy can be symptom-free but will infect other dogs.”
Wahl said people should never introduce a puppy off the street into a home if the other dogs haven’t been vaccinated in the last year.
There was also a human health risk as many of the pups were likely to have sarcoptic mange, which is a contagious skin condition caused by mites that could be transferred to people.
The SPCA’s inspectorate manager, Moyo Mqabuko Ndukwana, said they were averaging 12 reported cases a month.
Ndukwana added it was illegal to sell puppies in the street in terms of the Animal Protection Act as well as city animal control by-laws, which were introduced in 2010 to target barking dogs as well as clamp down on backyard breeding.
He said they strongly discouraged the purchase of animals in the street as it encouraged backyard breeding and perpetuated a cycle of animal cruelty.
“By buying puppies people are also creating a market. And while they may be alleviating the suffering of one, they are doing it at the expense of many.”
Tamboerskloof resident Lisa Tamarozzi put an alert on Facebook after noticing the same man selling different puppies in the area.
Last week he was offering a puppy for R400 which she said looked ill and dehydrated.
A friend managed to rescue the puppy and took it to the vet for treatment. They called the police but the man disappeared before they could act.
Last week, a litter of puppies, that were just over two weeks old, were being sold in Muizenberg.
Lisa Marie McIntyre, who has been fostering them, said they had only just opened their eyes and were far too young to have been taken away from their mother.
People can contact law enforcement at 021 8124464 or call the SPCA at 021 700 4140 if they see puppies being sold on the street.
Cape Argus
