Benji's back home - to biltong
2006-09-19 23:44
Pretoria - A tasty piece of biltong and an overjoyed handler waited for Benji the patrol dog who was found three days after being stolen with a police car in Hebron, north of Pretoria.
Benji's handler, Tshwane metro police inspector Stephen de Vos, said: "Tears of heartache flowed on Friday night when it seemed that Benji was gone for good.
"This morning (Tuesday) they flowed from pure joy because he'd been found.
A colleague had traced his beloved German shepherd in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Benji and a drug-sniffer dog, Jade, were in their handlers' Toyota Venture on Friday night when it was stolen in front of a house in Orchards, Pretoria, where they were investigating a case.
Was really upset
De Vos and sergeant Chris Ogilvie had reacted to a case of attempted burglary and the unmarked police car was stolen within eight minutes of them stopping at the house.
De Vos said: "We leave the dogs inside the car only if there are other dogs on the premises.
"It's a long time since I've been as upset as I was when I went outside and saw the car had been stolen. Not about the vehicle, but about the dog."
Constable Everson Manyana, also of Tshwane Metro police, heard a dog barking outside his house on Tuesday about 02:00.
When he investigated, he saw the "strange" shepherd dog standing there and remembered the reports about the missing dog.
He immediately phoned the metro police dog unit, who sent someone to investigate.
De Vos said: "A colleague called Benji's name and he responded at once. Benji is quite fierce and responds only to my commands, so they loaded him very carefully into the vehicle."
Got the biltong ready
He was phoned about 04:30 on Tuesday to identify Benji.
"I was so glad. My mom started cutting biltong at once, because we knew he'd not eaten for a long time."
Jade had been found at a shopping centre in Soshanguve on Saturday morning when she jumped into a motorist's vehicle.