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Criminals injure police dogs
04/07/2007 10:05 - (SA)
Dries Liebenberg, Beeld
Durban - Two dogs from the same litter, who have been fighting against crime all their lives, landed on the operation table on the same day, after being injured in separate incidents.
Both dogs are in the prime of their lives, but one suffered a 15cm stab wound in a fight with a rapist, while the other one was shot through the spine while fighting with a car thief.
"I very much want to visit him. But for his own sake I must limit these visits, because when I'm with him, he starts wriggling," said inspector Ian Pitout on Tuesday after his dog, Boesman had been shot.
Boesman has been working for more than three years with Pitout as a patrol dog in Port Shepstone.
Stabbed seven times
Boesman has been stabbed seven times, and every time it was as if the dog, a five-year-old German Shepherd, only worked harder, said Pitout.
Boesman was sedated after a criminal's bullet had hit him in the shoulder blade. The bullet went through his body and spine.
Dr Lizelle Lloyd, a veterinary from Margate, didn't want to wager an opinion on the dog's future, said superintendent Zandra Hechter, a police spokesperson. Although Boesman still had feeling in his legs, only time would tell if he would be able to stand again.
Pitout, Boesman and their colleague, inspector Michael Welsh, stopped behind a car on the N2-highway near Margate shortly before midnight on Monday.
When the three men in the car noticed them, they ran away and started firing at the police.
Pitout let go of Boesman when the men reached nearby homes.
"I heard one of the men shouting and knew Boesman had caught up with him. But then two shots rang out, followed by silence. I knew he had hit Boesman," said Pitout.
The police found out on Tuesday that the vehicle had been stolen from a panelbeater in Boboyi, where it had been left for repairs to the fuel tank. A pistol was found inside the vehicle. The three suspects were still at large.
Boesman and his two brothers, Boucher and Brad, all work as patrol dogs along the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
Boucher, who works with constable Ridwaan Khan in Hibberdene, was stabbed in the hind leg with a knife on Monday after he had apprehended a suspect who had kept and raped an 18-year-old girl overnight.
- Beeld
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