Microwaved cat: Net closing in

2005-05-19 22:22

Dries Liebenberg

Durban - Every student in a university residence where a cat was cooked to death in a microwave oven now has to submit a written account of where he was at the time, in an attempt to find the culprits.

The incident, which took place at a men's residence on the Pinetown campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) last weekend, has unleashed a storm of protest.

Tango, the one-year-old pet of the family of the campus's security chief, is believed to have been cooked to death on Sunday night in a communal kitchen in the Pinewood residence.

Animal welfare organisations said it was hard to imagine that anyone could come up with such an idea.

The organisations are also worried that something like this could have been done by education students, who will soon be helping to shape the thinking of young children in the future.

A cleaner discovered the cat's cooked remains in the microwave oven on Monday morning.

Emotions running high

Tango, the one-year-old pet of the family of the campus's security chief, is believed to have been cooked to death on Sunday night in a communal kitchen in the Pinewood residence.

Roland Fivaz of the SPCA said emotions were running high among some of the residents about what happened, while others had laughed about it at a meeting earlier this week.

With the threat of a R100 fine hanging over the head of every Pinewood resident if the culprits did not own up by today, the SPCA had received about 30 phone calls by Thursday, giving information about who may have been responsible.

In an attempt to identify possible suspects, Fivaz has ordered all residents to give a written account by Monday of where they were between Sunday night and Monday morning.

Fivaz said UKZN security personnel were also investigating Tango's death.

Marcelle Meredith, chief executive officer of the SPCA's national council, said that, unfortunately, it did not surprise her that someone could have sunk so low as to kill an animal in this way.

'Only a very perverse psyche'

She said research in the USA showed a connection between people who mistreated animals and who later committed violent acts against humans.

Christine Pretorius of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said it takes a very perverse psyche to conceive such an act towards an animal.

"Fortunately cruelty to animals is not as widespread in South Africa as one might have thought. It is usually the result of poverty or ignorance," she said.

Meredith is satisfied with the maximum penalties for cruelty to animals, which make provision for either imprisonment or a fine of up to R200 000 in the Supreme Court.

- Beeld