Vicious dogs kill four-year-old boy

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy was mauled to death while another 10-year-old child was left for dead allegedly by about eight vicious dogs in Masvingo's Eastvale suburb.

Success Kasanhayi of Shakashe Street was playing with four other children outside his parents' house when the dogs belonging to Ahamad Amon and one Mukaratirwa pounced on him on Sunday at around 4 PM.

The dogs allegedly dragged Success into a nearby bush and mauled him all over the body, leaving him bleeding profusely. He was rushed to Masvingo General Hospital by one of the owners of the killer dogs, Amon, where he was pronounced dead hours after admission.

The dogs, which were roaming around the medium density suburb, allegedly set upon a 10-year-old boy, two hours after they pounced on Success. "When we were still seized with Success' matter at the hospital, I received a call from home that my dogs had again attacked another boy. I then came back, only to find the boy writhing in pain with injuries on his hands and legs. I rushed him to hospital," Amon said.

When The Chronicle visited Eastvale suburb at around 1PM yesterday police, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and officers from the department of veterinary services were hunting down the dogs.

By yesterday afternoon, they had tracked and put down four of the dogs. Success' mother, Charity Mabhiza, 24, was distraught.

"I left my son at home playing with his friends while I went to buy some onions in town. My husband was at the shops," she said. "On my way back, I met my husband and he instructed me to follow him without explaining where we were going. We then caught a taxi which was going to Masvingo General Hospital and when we got into the children's ward, I was taken aback to see my son on life support."

Mabhiza said she suspects that excessive bleeding caused her son's death. The boy's father, Grafton Kasanhayi, 30, said when he heard children screaming, he rushed to the scene but his son had already been rushed to hospital.

"It's devastating but there is nothing we can do. But I feel the owners of the vicious dogs have a case to answer," said Kasanhayi. Amon said he regretted the unfortunate incident. He said his dogs were last vaccinated four years ago and offered to have them put down.

"I want to testify that my dogs had not been vaccinated against rabies or any diseases for four years now. We last took them for vaccination in 2012. I've six vicious dogs and am keeping them for security reasons. I stay with my mother who is 94-years-old and she needs security since most of the time she's left alone. Of late there are fuel thieves around and at one time I was a victim," said Amon.

SPCA Masvingo provincial manager John Chikomo said if the dogs were not vaccinated, the owners should be charged by the police. "The owner of the six dogs told us that they were not vaccinated. That's a crime on its own but it's left to the department of veterinary service to write a report which will be used by the police to do their job," said Chikomo.

He said the unfortunate incident could have been avoided if the dogs had been locked inside the yard. Acting police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dehwa confirmed the incident but said he was still waiting for finer details.