Free State Police are investigating the owner of two pit bulls that killed a 3-year-old boy.
PHOTO: Tara Gregg/Getty Images, EyeEm
- Free State Police are ready to investigate the owner of two pit bulls who attacked a Free State boy.
- Keketso Innocent Saule, 3, was killed by two dogs at a home in Henneman.
- The community killed one of the dogs, beating it with garden shovels and rocks before setting the animal on fire.
Free State Police are investigating the owner of two pit bulls that killed a 3-year-old boy on Sunday.
Keketso Innocent Saule was killed at a house in Sekoti Mpate Phomolong in Hennenman on Sunday at around 08:15 a.m., police spokesman Capt. Stephen Thakeng said.
“An inquiry has been filed for further investigation, and there will be an additional charge under the Animal Amendment Act. A thorough investigation will be carried out into the circumstances that led to the two pit bulls killing the child,” Thakeng said.
He called on social media users to refrain from sharing a video of the attack.
“We have noted with concern a clip making the rounds on social media platforms showing the two dogs killing the deceased. Neighbors should refrain from doing so. This gesture must cease with immediate effect,” she said.
The boy was playing with other children in a house when he was attacked by the dogs and bitten to death in the yard.
READ | SPCA staff attacked, pit bull burned to death, after boy, 3, killed
Angry community members tried to kill both dogs and attack their owner. They also turned on SPCA personnel who responded to the incident. The police intervened and the staff of the Society for the Protection of Animals left with one of the dogs. The dog was later euthanized.
Locals attacked the second dog, beating it with garden shovels and stones before setting the animal on fire.
The latest attack comes after a series of deadly pit bull attacks this year, and just days after the funeral of an 8-year-old boy in Mangaung, who was mauled to death by a neighbor’s pit bull last week on Saturday. .
The dog mauled him at his parents’ home in Bloemfontein when it managed to break through a palisade fence.
The dog dragged him by the neck, killing him.
