An Ottery woman who strangled two of her fox terriers to death in November last year has been found guilty on charges of animal cruelty in the Wynberg Magistrates court.  She was found to be mentally incapacitated and was committed to Stickland Psychiatric Evaluation Facility.
 
Mrs Doreen Penderson was charged with animal abuse after the Cape of Good Hope (CoGH) SPCA removed the bodies of two fox terriers from her home - which according to a pathologists report were strangled to death.  A third fox terrier was removed uninjured.   
 
Whilst there was no explanation as to what might have driven the woman to kill her dogs - the accused claimed at the time that they were fighting.  
 
CoGH SPCA Chief Inspector Andries Venter said that the SPCA was not called on to testify but that the Magistrate accepted the facts before him and found her guilty.  Mr Venter said that in his opinion this indicates that the courts are starting to acknowledge that animal cruelty is a crime against the community - and not just against the animal.
 
Whilst cases of this nature are rare - the SPCA reports that mental illness in our society is increasingly resulting in animals being neglected or abused.  In the past week the SPCA has had to attend to three suicide cases.  In each instance the SPCA was called in by the SAPS to remove the victims’ animals - some of which had been denied access to food and water for several days as a result of their owner’s death.
 
“Mental instability often results in animals become the victims of unintended abuse - with sometimes fatal consequences” said Venter.