Canoeists training for the Dusi Conoe Marathon came across a dead dog strung up by its feet inside a mesh on Tuesday night on the Umgeni River in Durban, it was later established that it was a trap set by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife officers earlier that week to catch an elusive 2 metre crocodile.

The Animal rights authorities are outraged and have called this act indecent.

Jeff Gaisford, the Ezemvelo spokesman, said the dog had been found on the side of the road by crocodile expert Mark Robertson.

“(It) had been hit by a car and the front portion was badly crushed. It was basically just the hindquarters that were left. We would never use a live dog or kill a dog for bait.”

It was “an old piece of knowledge” that dog meat was the best croc bait.

“It’s fine to use the dead dog as bait if it does not belong to anyone, but surely there should be some procedure involved? Said Durban SPCA spokesman Dougie du Plessis

“It could have been someone’s pet; they would have to check and not just assume it’s a stray.”

http://www.simplygreen.co.za