STRAY DOGS BEING HUNTED IN LUSAKA

By Arnel Chitundu

CACTUS Foundation, an Animal Welfare Organization, has called on the general public to be wary of people selling and trading in dog meat in the country saying the business is real especially in Lusaka where some unscrupulous individuals have reportedly gone on a rampage, hunting for stray dogs.

CACTUS Country Manager, Christopher Mulenga disclosed that his organization was carrying out investigations to ascertain the extent to which such illegalities were happening.

Mr. Mulenga explained that his organization had been going round buying and taking food samples to various laboratories, checking if what people were consuming was safe.

He told The Scoop in an interview that there are people masquerading as animal welfare organizations but were actually involved in these illegal activities.

“A lady disguising herself as a member of an Animal Welfare Organization, organized some youths to help find stray dogs around Chelstone area in Lusaka and even paid them but after our investigations, none of the existing Animal Welfare Organizations carried out such an operation.

“Also this year, a man was arrested in Kabwe for trading in dog meat disguised as goat meat and the case will be in court soon. This is why people must be careful what type of meat they buy from the market because the issue of dog meat being sold on the market is real,” Mr. Mulenga.

He revealed that recently, 69 dogs that were destined for Kasumbalesa from Luapula were intercepted but that 50 were found dead while 19 were retrieved and taken to Cactus Foundation.

“More than 100 dogs per month cross into Zambia through Chililabombwe from the Democratic Republic of Congo via the Kasumbalesa border post,” he added.

He bemoaned the high cases of dog thefts in some parts of the country where it was believed that dogs ended up being taken to neighbouring countries.

He commended the Chililabombwe Municipal Council for denying permission to a Kasumbalesa dog trade organization to operate as the organization gave false address and lacked decent facilities to operate on.

He reiterated that CACTUS will continue to collaborate with authorities on investigating and employing fact-finding initiatives regarding the dog meat trade between Zambia and the DRC.