Municipal workers swinging around a dead cat in George. Municipal workers swinging around a dead cat in George.
An animal rights group have completed their investigation into the shocking images of municipal workers in George swinging around a dead cat during last week’s national strike.
Last Friday the Daily Voice published photos of John Bruiners, a former Community Policing Forum chairman, holding the dead cat up before tossing it into a fire.
At the time it was unclear whether the workers had killed the feline or whether they had merely found it dead.
SPCA manager Frieda Jansen Van Rensburg says they were unable to find the cat after reports flooded in.
The Garden Route SPCA released a statement which says: “After a thorough investigation, we are relieved to state that the cat involved in the Municipal Strikes in the George CBD area on Tuesday 16th of August 2011, was not alive during the incident.
“A witness has subsequently come forward to confirm that the cat had been run over by a vehicle and was lying dead in the road. After opening his shop, his employees placed the body of the cat in a bag in the rubbish bin.”
Jansen Van Rensburg says the Garden Route SPCA condemns any animal abuse and believes “that even in death, animals should be treated with respect. This was shocking behaviour and cannot be excused”.
* This article was published on p10 of the Daily Voice