South Africa pit bull attacks: 'We can't live in a world where dogs eat children' - BBC

Warning: Some readers whitethorn find details successful this communicative distressing.

Residents of Phomolong township successful South Africa woke up to horrific screams past Sunday morning.

They came from a three-year-old lad arsenic helium was attacked and past mauled to decease by 2 American pit bull terriers.

The toddler had been extracurricular with friends successful a neighbour's gated beforehand yard, wherever the 2 pit bulls were usually tied up successful a cage. But that greeting they were escaped and roaming around.

It was arsenic the children were playing that the dogs pounced connected Keketso Saule.

His devastated household accidental the savage onslaught lasted for respective minutes.

"Had idiosyncratic not pulled him distant the dogs would person finished [eating] him," his distraught aunt, Nthabeleng Saule, told the BBC.

"One broadside his look was gone and you could spot his brain."

A video taken during the onslaught shows horrified relatives and neighbours shouting successful daze and looking connected astatine the vicious dogs unsure of what to bash and however to intervene.

It was lone erstwhile idiosyncratic poured blistery h2o connected the dogs that radical were capable to resistance Keketso's lifeless assemblage distant from them.

In a groundswell of anger, the crowd, who had rushed to the scene, turned connected the dogs and began throwing things astatine them.

They managed to stun and drawback one, mounting it alight.

The constabulary past arrived arsenic the assemblage bayed for revenge, and the 21-year-old proprietor of the dogs, Lebohang Pali, was arrested and charged with keeping unsafe dogs and could look a good oregon a jailhouse word of up to 2 years oregon both.

The 2nd canine was taken distant and euthanised by the carnal payment radical SPCA.

Mr Pali has since been granted bail - acceptable astatine 300 rand ($18, £15). It is unclear if helium volition instrumentality to the location that helium was renting.

When we visited the neighbourhood successful Free State province, astir 250km (155 miles) south-west of Johannesburg, the charred remains connected the thoroughfare extracurricular the Saule household location told of the grisly play scenes.

Rocks, sticks and a burnt-out tyre littered the country wherever the canine had been burnt. Residents came to retired to talk of their daze and choler astir what they witnessed connected Sunday.

"This incidental has breached our hearts," said Emily Moerane, a young parent carrying her toddler.

"We don't privation pit bulls anymore," she said, adding that if the proprietor of the canine did not look justness they would "take the instrumentality into our hands".

Inside the Saule home, Kekesto's aunt showed america a photograph of the smiling bright-eyed small lad connected her phone.

Battling to clasp backmost the tears, she spoke of the family's trauma.

"Things are conscionable not right, not close astatine all. Even the child's mother, grandma and gramps witnessed what happened," she said.

"It's going to instrumentality clip for them to recognize wherefore they [the dogs] ate the child."

One of the onlookers extracurricular told maine that determination was different pit bull connected the street, pointing to a location straight other the Saule home.

The dog's owner, Mokete Selebano, welcomed maine and took maine retired to his backmost yard, his brownish pit bull playfully jumping connected him and his wife.

"This is Junior - he's similar my son," helium said.

But fearful of the community's animosity towards pit bulls, Mr Selebano said helium was going to springiness up his pet.

"We can't unrecorded similar this successful a satellite wherever dogs devour children. If the assemblage is aggravated past there's thing that I tin do. But seeing him spell is precise achy to maine and my wife."

Following a caller spate of deadly pit bull attacks, galore radical similar Mr Selebano person been voluntarily surrendering their dogs.

Three days aft Kekesto's decease a 15-month-old toddler died successful infirmary aft being attacked by a pit bull successful the Eastern Cape province.

In Bloemfontein, 49 pit pulls were handed implicit to the SPCA aft eight-year-old lad Olebogeng Mosime was killed by 1 the week before.

On the aforesaid time Kekesto died, a miss was attacked by 3 pit bulls successful Cape Town. She was injured and rushed to hospital, and the assemblage turned connected the animals, stoning them and mounting them alight.

The dogs handed implicit to the SPCA volition each beryllium individually assessed and the organisation has appealed to the authorities for assistance successful dealing with the influx.

Eighteen of the victims were children - 5 of whom person been killed this year, making it the worst connected grounds for kid deaths.

Four kid deaths were reported successful 2017, the worst recorded twelvemonth since 2004 with 8 fatalities successful full - and since 2016 astatine slightest 1 decease by a pit bull has been reported each year.

According to instrumentality steadfast DSC Attorneys, which handles idiosyncratic wounded cases, incidents involving dogs are connected the rise.

"We person had implicit 70 canine bite-related queries this twelvemonth to day - truthful an mean of six per period - and successful October unsocial we had 50% much enquiries than the preceding month," the firm's manager Kirstie Halsam told the BBC.

The sidesplitting of 10-year-old Storm Nuku by his family's 2 favored pit pulls successful September prompted the Sizwe Kupelo Foundation to commencement an online petition calling for the dogs to beryllium banned arsenic pets successful South Africa.

"The defence by pit bull lovers that it is however you rise the canine does not clasp water. So galore people, including joggers person been attacked and killed by pit bulls," says the petition, which has much than 129,000 signatures truthful far.

"It is clip that the South African authorities takes decisive steps and enforce a implicit prohibition connected the ownership of pit bulls arsenic home animals."

Fear of transgression is felt to beryllium a large origin successful grooming animals similar pit bulls to beryllium defender dogs. Mr Selebano, who got Junior arsenic extortion for his woman erstwhile she was unsocial astatine home, says determination are galore pit bulls successful Phomolong township.

The summation successful pit bull ownership, peculiarly successful townships, is not lone for protection, but for amerciable canine fighting.

The animals are trained to beryllium aggressive, kept successful choky enclosures connected chains for the sole intent of warring and sidesplitting each other. Often organised by syndicates, radical wage to ticker and gamble connected the fights.

In July, the SPCA busted a dog-fighting ringing successful Cape Town's Grassy Park, rescuing 7 dogs, including 3 pit bull puppies, aft authorities became alert of a video of dogs being encouraged to fight.

Dog warring carries a punishment of a $4,700-fine oregon imprisonment of up to 2 years oregon both.

"Backyard breeding" has besides go a occupation - with owners transverse breeding pit bulls with different breeds similar Boerboels for amerciable canine fights.

This means the dogs whitethorn look similar American pit bull terriers but are much assertive and much prone to wound people, peculiarly children.

Critics of an outright prohibition connected pit bulls accidental it volition not lick the occupation of irresponsible ownership.

"These maulings are thing abbreviated of tragic," Lins Rautenbach, spokesperson for the Pitbull Federation of South Africa, told the BBC.

But she enactment the blasted squarely with the dogs' owners - saying laws request to beryllium enactment successful spot to woody with them.

"Banning the breed means radical successful South Africa who privation to consciousness harmless volition determination from this to different breed.

"So we'll possibly spot a driblet successful pit bull maulings, but we'll spot an summation successful accidental Rottweiler oregon German Shepherd maulings," she said.