Work has been busy lately. I have been on a long trip through Limpopo (almost as far as the Zimbabwean boarder) together with a colleague of mine. It was hot and many kilometres but interesting. You realise how difficult it can be to plan a trip and the farms you are going to visit when you encounter some problems in one place and have to stay over to sort it out. Needless to say we did not get to all the places that we planned but that’s part of the job. Our first day was delayed due to an over turned truck carrying pigs on their way to the abattoir. We all had to rush there first thing in the morning trying to beat the Joburg rush traffic. Must admit I sort of enjoyed driving in the emergency lane although some vice as tried to block me off. I hooted and pointed at my stickers on the car trying to explain to the idiot that I was actually on my way to the accident science which was causing the traffic jam in the first place. When I got there colleagues were already busy putting down injured pigs and the owner came shortly after screaming we were killing his pigs. Boy did he not get anywhere with my boss who told him we were putting down pigs that were suffering and would not make it to the abattoir and he could complain if he wanted but we were actually doing him a favour and did not care if he had a problem with it. Later on the new truck arrived and they started loading the pigs. By this time the pigs where totally happy rolling around in the mud and grazing in the field next to the road and did not feel like getting onto one of those trucks again. And when a pig does not want to move your way, it does not want to move your way. To add to the problem they had brought a truck without a proper ramp. The small ramp was long enough to fill the lowest compartment of the truck but not the top level. Some smart guy came up with the idea of parking a bakkie next to the truck and then we had the pigs climb on to the back of the bakkie using the short ramp and from there the guys had to lift the pigs onto the truck. By this time I left to pick up my colleague and head for Limpopo.
A week before the pig incident we had a raid at a hawkers market (where people are selling all sorts of things on the street including animals) in Joburg. Previous to the raid we had visited the guys selling live chickens for months asking them to provide the chicken cages with water and shade only to be ignored over and over. After several written warnings we arranged to have the chickens confiscated. With a court order and the assistance of the police we arrived at the market in the morning with bakkies and a horse box and started loading all the chickens. The owners only stared at us but did not say a word. I suppose I would also be quite if I was surrounded with police holding their rifles in the air. It might seem a bit drastic but this is a town ship we are talking about and in the town ships people stick up for each other and without the police we would not have been able to take any chickens. We counted almost 500 chickens and when all chickens and cages were packed we took them to the kennels and I think that was the best time of their short life. For the first time they could walk around freely after spending their life in cages laying egg and then being sold to hawkers who put them in even smaller cages to be sold in the market alive or cooked. The hawkers were given 7 days to collect their chickens but only if they came with proper cages and could show that they would provide them with water as well.
On Monday it was time for the yearly Muslim sacrifice festival, Qurbani. During three days the Muslims sacrifice animals like Abraham sacrificed a lam instead of his son and we were all out to ensure the slaughter was carried out as humanely as possible. Of course we can not be everywhere since there is about a million Muslims in the country but we visit areas where we have a lot of Muslims and overall they are very friendly and usually let us in to their houses where most slaughter is taking place. There are also organised, so called communal sites, where a lot of people take the animals to be slaughtered. Most common is sheep and goats but we also witnessed some bulls being slaughtered, which is more of a challenge than smaller animals. An interesting note is that the Koran also states that the animal must be treated with the greatest respect before and during slaughter and that it must be killed quickly and humanely. So basically the Animal protection act and the Koran is inline with each other which is a nice tool to use should there be any problems. The people might not care about the Animals protection act but they surely want to follow the Koran. The only problem we have with the actual slaughter is that the throat is being cut without any pre-stunning (bringing the animal unconscious) but when it comes to religious slaughter we can not demand that and so we can only try to ensure the animals is handled correctly and the throat cut quickly with a sharp knife and the person knows what he is doing. Overall we did not find many problems this year except for the colleagues who witnessed bulls begin slaughtered. A bull can’t be lead to the place of slaughter like a sheep but has to be caught and pulled there by ropes and then pulled down and tied up before the throat is cut and this is a lengthy and stressful situation for the bull. The one we witnessed took about 45 minutes to slaughter and that is too long.
On Saturday we went to a sale yard (auction) where they sell cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits, puppies etc. These sale yards are always a challenge as many of the guys working there do not care how they handle the animals (well it is not theirs, they are only doing there job). This sale yard was not too bad though, at least they had provided most of the animals with water (after being taken to court) but we still had some fights especially with people handling chickens. (Somehow it seems like chickens can be abused worse than other farm animals). When we told a black lady not to carry the chicken home by the wings she screamed at us accusing us of installing apartheid all over again and when we asked a white farmer to not tie up his goat in a improper way he told us we only inspect the white people while “those black people” can do what ever they want. Well what can you say? I told the black lady it does not matter if you are green or blue the law is the same and the white farmer I asked if he had not seen us stopping the black man from tying up a calf on the back of his truck and forcing him to go home and fetch a better vehicle. My colleague was told by a huge guy that he would beat her up and another bunch of guys accused us of trying to change their culture. Well, if you have one of those days and you feel like a fight, visit a sale yard.
Today is a public holiday here in South Africa so I will enjoy some time off. Christmas is around the corner and I really need some days off now, it has been two intense months.
Tjing!
