Video in report.
Sky, the police dog injured at the Roodeplaat training centre, has been euthanised after her condition deteriorated dramatically due to the injuries. Ian Cameron, DA-LP and chairperson of the police portfolio committee, says the tragedy could have been foreseen according to the police's own veterinary records.
Cameron says Sky's condition deteriorated overnight to the point where the decision was made to spare her further suffering. According to him, she had an open fracture in her left foreleg, while her right foreleg was also broken and tissue had begun dying. Her muscles sustained extensive damage and began breaking down, while it was suspected that her organs were beginning to fail. Her condition made surgery and anaesthesia extremely risky. A clinic-directed post-mortem examination will be conducted at Onderstepoort according to Cameron, and a formal report must form part of all investigations into Sky's death.
Cameron welcomes the acting national commissioner, Lt Gen Puleng Dimpane's, decision to appoint a senior officer to investigate the incident. However, he says the police's own veterinary certificate, signed on 28 August, shows that Sky already had serious problems. The certificate states that she had been at Roodeplaat since March after sustaining injuries to her face and legs and having teeth torn from her jaw. According to the document, Sky's attempts to escape from her enclosure continued and were described as "persistent and compulsive". She was diagnosed with separation anxiety and severe kennel stress and received Fluoxetine, Gabapentin and Trazodone among other medications. The certificate also indicated, according to Cameron, that Sky's prospects within the police environment were poor and that she could not remain there without endangering her welfare.
Cameron claims that police officers requested as early as August that Sky be temporarily moved to a suitable home while the necessary documentation for her permanent placement was processed. According to him, this request was not actioned. He says the police must now explain why the placement process allegedly took approximately 160 days, despite the fact that there were already written warnings about Sky's condition. According to available information, Sky spent approximately eighteen hours a day in a small indoor enclosure in a room without natural light. She was allegedly left without supervision from Sunday afternoon until Monday morning, after which she was found with serious injuries.
Cameron has opened a criminal case and referred the matter to the NSPCA and the South African Veterinary Council. He insists that all veterinary records, post-mortem findings, biological samples, closed-circuit television footage, kennel registers, duty rosters, inspection records and internal communications be preserved. He says the investigation must establish who was aware of the risks, who was responsible for the placement process and after-hours supervision, when Sky was last examined and why existing warnings did not result in action.
"Sky served the police and was completely dependent on the SAPD for her protection. She could not speak for herself or escape the decisions made about her life," says Cameron.
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
