Ruff race against time for Blue Bundu Brigade

KAREN Janisch, director at Blue Bundu Brigade, has been left feeling like a hollow shell after she had to voluntarily surrender nine dogs due to alleged threats by Metro police and the SPCA on June 2. The NPO now faces a ticking clock to move the remaining from her Farningham Ridge home. Despite claims made by the metro police that they had found 68 dogs on the property, Janisch claims that she had less than 60 dogs.

An initial visit by the health inspector, accompanied by metro police, was to inspect the organisation’s home after receiving a complaint regarding a stench emanating from the property. The ordeal turned into a heated argument as Janisch alleges that the officers had tried to jump over her gate to gain access to her property. “He kept saying that he wants to get into the property to see my dogs.

I said, well, you can see them from the window because from where they were standing, you could see the dogs and he said no he wants to come in and see if we look after the dogs. I told him that he needed to get a warrant, that he was not welcome to come on my property unless he had one. Despite telling him that, he was still quite aggressive and wanting to climb over,” she said.

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Janisch added that the health inspector was allowed to enter as the health inspector had previously discussed conducting an inspection, however it was not confirmed when. The health inspector had signed off on the inspection and asked Janisch to remove the dirt in the front of the yard, which is where the presumed stench came from. “We had already organised for a dirt truck to come and collect that rubbish that same afternoon,” said Janisch.

The metro officers had also given Janisch a R500 fine for parking their vehicle on the verge. “We had parked our vehicle on the verge for when the dirt truck came. The truck could come up the driveway and collect the dirt directly.

We never knew that it was an issue to park our vehicles on the verges,” said Janisch. Later that same day officials from the Kloof and Highway SPCA, accompanied by the same metro police officers, arrived at Janisch’s property with a warrant to inspect the property and the well-being of the dogs. The officials expressed their concern about the number of dogs on the property and that Janisch was in contravention of the municipal by-laws.

The SPCA’s main issue arose with the dogs in crates. Janisch had a few dogs in specialised crates as they often do when they need to step out the house.

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