Cape Town – The Sizwe Kupelo Foundation has started a petition to ban people from having pit bulls as pets in South Africa, “following years of vicious attacks on innocent citizens”.
The petition, which at the time of writing has been signed by over 30 000 people, is directed towards the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didizato.
“Following years of vicious attacks on innocent citizens, including young children, the Sizwe Kupelo Foundation has called for the immediate ban of pit bulls.
“The call has been necessitated by the attacks which seem to continue unabated with the recent attack resulting in the untimely and unfortunate death of a 10-year-old in Gelvandale, Gqeberha in Nelson Mandela Bay,” the foundation said in its petition.
The foundation urged South Africa to follow the examples set by countries such as Russia, Finland, Denmark, United Kingdom, Portugal, parts of Germany, parts of China, parts of Brazil, and parts of Australia that have either banned, put restrictions on ownership of the breed or its importation.
Foundation founder and patron Sizwe Kupelo called on the South African government to follow the examples set by these countries.
“We cannot continue losing young people like Storm Nuku to these vicious dogs that have shown time and again that they should not be kept as pets. May young Storm Nuku rest in perfect peace.
“The defence by pit bull lovers that it is how you raise the dog does not hold water. So many people, including joggers have been attacked and killed by pit bulls.
“It is time that the South African government takes decisive steps and impose a complete ban on the ownership of pit bulls as domestic animals. Such a move would prevent further attacks and unnecessary deaths. We cannot continue sending out messages of condolences for something that can easily be prevented,” said Kupelo.
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Compiled by Junaid Benjamin
