Rex and Spike, police dogs from the Pietermaritzburg K9 unit, were dashed into surgery during the early hours of yesterday morning after the burglar they were tracking used a carving knife to ward them off, stabbing each dog repeatedly.
Pietermaritzburg police spokesperson Mthokozisi Ngobese said the dogs are in a stable condition and the police are now on the hunt for the suspect.
In what police sources described as “one of many” housebreakings on Tuesday night, a burglar entered a home in Dixon Avenue in Cleland while the homeowners were asleep.
Awoken by a noise in the passage way, it is believed the homeowners confronted the intruder, who threatened to kill them before escaping with a television set, a bicycle and two pairs of shoes.
Acting on information that the robber was heading towards the Tamboville informal settlement, two K9 unit officers, Constable Jackie Marais and Sergeant Shaun Noordman, in two separate vehicles set up an ambush on the Old Bishopstowe Road.
When the man appeared with the stolen bicycle from inside the dense bush near the road, he allegedly ignored the officers’ calls to stop, dropped the bicycle and fled. The whereabouts of the television set is unknown, leading police to believe a second suspect was involved
.
Ngobese said one of the officers released their dog to chase down the man, who was finally tackled as he tried to scale the fence of a nearby property.
However, in the frenzy, the man stabbed the dog about three times in the abdomen before escaping over the fence.
It is believed the chase then continued on a hill near Tamboville where the second officer released their dog to tackle the burglar.
The burglar allegedly stabbed the second dog as it neared. The chase was immediately halted and the dogs were rushed to a local vet for treatment.
According to a police source, one dog was stabbed behind the neck near the shoulder and again near the ribs while the second dog was stabbed close to the lungs.
Ngobese said a case of housebreaking and malicious damage to state property is being investigated.
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