07/09/2026
Setting the record straight.
Today, an ongoing issue came to a head.
One of the households in our street, their dog has on numerous occasions, got out of their property and into the road. Thankfully most of the numerous occasions, the dog came into our property and we then held him, securely, in one of our kennels. We had given these people numerous warnings that should it happen again, we would get the SPCA involved. Prior to today, there was another incident and we called the SPCA and they came and collected the dog, so the owners would have to go and and collect him. After this incident, the badmouthing from said individuals started.
Today we had to endure all sorts of verbal abuse from these people (again).
We were alerted to a dog, with a buster collar on, seen in the road, running down the road towards Inanda Road. It was one of our clients coming to see us that saw the dog. Thankfully the dog came into our property again so we managed to stop him from going back out into the road. We knew exactly who he was. The SPCA was called to come and collect the dog, again. Not only had we secured him in one of our kennels on numerous occasions, but 2 of our clients, on separate occasions had picked the dog up ON Inanda road and brought him through to us. Cars swerving to miss him.
We witnessed a stranger, without announcing themselves at reception, walking through our property, clearly looking for something, so we inquired what they were looking for.
He said he was looking for their dog to which we explained that the SPCA had come to collect him.
And this is where the profanities started. The man claims he had left the gate open and didn't know the dog got out. It was around 40mins or so before they realised the dog was off the property. We explained the situation, the man was only visiting him family at the property so was not aware of the long standing previous history with the dog getting off the property. The next thing, another person arrived, the owner of the dog, and immediately started spitting a slew of abuse and profanities at us.
It was explained again to them that we had warned them numerous times that the SPCA would get involved and this was now the second time since the SPCA got involved, that the dog got off their property. Also, that a dog that has clearly had surgery, with its buster collar on, should absolutely not be running around on the road. The owner who had arrived confirmed the dog had had surgery and "no, I absolutely didn't bring him to you, because you lot are a bunch of a**holes". Clearly this reaction was from the last SPCA involvement.
We tried to explain that it is clear their property is not secured and that this is not an isolated event. Inanda road is a few metres away and how would they feel if they had to collect a body instead? This was again followed by more profanities aimed at us because we "clearly don't care about the dog". Any logical person would be able to surmise that this statement couldn't be further from the truth. It is because WE DO care that we have involved the SPCA because our warnings were falling on deaf ears. Not all dogs have "traffic sense" and this would be further compromised by wearing an opaque buster collar. This would absolutely have affected his vision as well as hearing. Because the dog would have been taking to the SPCA, the owners would have had to pay a releasing fee, so this too was a bone of contention because "I cannot afford to pay a releasing fee to the SPCA to go and collect him".
We tried to reason with them and it was evidently clear that you cannot reason with the unreasonable. They see nothing wrong with what had happened, today and in the past, but we were the a**holes.
The SPCA are again involved.
We have clients who were present that also had to witness this tirade of verbal abuse aimed at us today and we have cctv video recordings of their behaviour too. We have numerous clients who were also present during the previous encounters we have had with these people.
Let's just get one thing straight. We will not tolerate such behaviour, such language and verbal abuse from ANYONE, especially when an animal's safety and welfare are so clearly and obviously compromised.
We do what we do BECAUSE we care.
The SPCA and Metro Police are also actively policing and monitoring situations like this. Ethekweni Municipality announced the same on the 9th of June this year. We applaud both organisations dedication to this matter.
We will continue to care for all our clients and their furbabies, regardless of the bad mouthing we are anticipating from this second incident. We know that we have done the right thing, and that the dog is off the streets and safe.
We're sorry to our clients that were present at the time of the altercation and also had to witness the abuse we had to endure. It is shameful the abuse that we, as a veterinary profession as a whole, are expected to tolerate. The abuse numerous staff members had to take today was, and is, totally unacceptable.
Should anything negative be said about us by these people, we will be taking legal action against them. We have had reports after the first incident that there has been defamation. We would ask our valued clients that should anything defamitory be said about us, verbally, or on social media (Facebook / WhatsApp community groups etc) to please bring it to our attention, because we will not tolerate defamation for exercising our care for the safety and welfare of (any) animals.
The Watercrest Vet Team
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