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Pets tortured, mutilated
07/07/2002 18:51 - (SA)
Harare - Settlers on formerly white-owned farms in Zimbabwe have been
accused of torturing pets left behind by fleeing owners, a
privately-owned paper said on Sunday.
"Pets are being beaten, tortured, and mutilated in acts of
recrimination," the Standard quoted the president of the
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Fred O'Regan, as
saying.
O'Regan told the paper that a pet pony had recently had its hoof "chopped off as a warning to the owner never to return to his farm."
The chief inspector of the Zimbabwe National Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ZNSPCA), Meryl Harrison, said 27 dogs were poisoned last week in the Bromley area, just
outside the capital Harare.
She said that police blamed the poisonings on a gang of
criminals operating from the capital.
The dogs were all from farms that the government has said it
will acquire under its controversial land reform
programme. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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