When a dog ingests the toxins from certain pesticides it’s usually only a matter of minutes before the dog starts hemorrhaging, quickly followed by violent seizures, respiratory paralysis and then death. Most of the more aggressive dogs, Rottweilers and Doberman Pinschers, often approach the criminals with their mouths agape, barking, salivating, looking for a reason to explain why someone is approaching their yard in the middle of the night. If this is the case, the night burglar – a perfected art form in South Africa – will spray either a full can of Raid or rodentcide into the snarling dog’s mouth, the open passageway only hastening the dog’s demise.
Mr. van Wyk vaguely remembers hearing his dogs' final barks the warm February morning his house was broken in to. Shortly after the robbers subdued his two dogs with poison and bypassed his electric fence, one of them made it to the open bedroom window, ready to pepper spray Mr. van Wyk if he awoke to the rummaging throughout the house. At that same time, the other robber was making his way through the house, using a sharp knife to cut clean through electronic chords and appliance wires, gathering anything of value he could find.
Perhaps rattled by the noise of the rummaging himself, the robber by the window took no chances, for he unleashed a bottle of pepper-spray on Mr. van Wyk before his partner made it out of the house. Mr. van Wyk barely gathered himself before he opened fire on the intruders as they fled, leaving jewelry behind in their haste. Hours later when the police finally showed up, his throat was still burning from the pepper spray.
There is nothing remarkable about Mr. van Wyk’s story in South Africa, a country that has seen a 100% increase in residential robberies since 2003/2004. The cops made their pledge to look into the case, but all parties, including the robbers, knew that nothing would come of it; the dogs had already been poisoned.
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