Residents up in arms over SPCA's seizure of 96 pigs

FAMILIES in Sir Lowry’s Pass say they have been left without livestock they depend on for their livelihood after the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, supported by SAPS and the City’s Animal Control Unit, seized 96 pigs from a property.

- MURRAY SWART

The SPCA says the removal followed months of unsuccessful attempts to improve animal-welfare conditions, while community representatives allege the operation was unlawful and harmful to small-scale farmers.

The SPCA said inspectors found pigs living in “filthy, unhygienic, and wholly unacceptable” conditions last week despite repeated efforts to assist the owners since May.

Inspector Lwazi Ntungele said: “When it rains, the pigs were stranded in mud and their own excrement, without access to clean water. When it’s hot, we find them with no water at all and still living in filth. Some animals were suffering from untreated medical conditions.” He said these were “direct contraventions of the law”.