A preliminary post-mortem on the bull that killed 10-year-old Ayanda Mfenku of Philippi East indicates it died of acidosis.
|||Cape Town - A preliminary post-mortem on the bull that killed 10-year-old Ayanda Mfenku of Philippi East indicates it died of acidosis – a metabolic disorder similar to heartburn in humans.
The bull, due to be slaughtered at a funeral in Philippi East on Sunday, broke loose while it was being unloaded and ran amok, goring to death Ayanda, who was standing in his yard.
The bull then collapsed in the yard and hours later was collected by the SPCA and taken to its Grassy Park premises, where it died.
Ayanda’s mother Nwabisa Mfenku has been paralysed with grief since the tragedy.
Allan Perrins, the chief executive of the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, said he had seen the bull’s contorted carcass and said it appeared to have been strangled.
“His eyes were sunken and full of fear and his tongue was blue – a sure sign of asphyxiation – probably due to the way he was mishandled or restrained.”
He added: “Whilst there is no denying the pain and sadness of losing a child, it is important to carefully examine the circumstances leading up to the tragic death of both the child and the bull put aside for a traditional sacrifice.
“We need to investigate what went so horribly wrong and learn from these mistakes or once again run the risk of an avoidable fatality.”
Perrins emphasised that animals such as bulls needed to be treated with dignity and caution in order to avoid such tragic accidents.
“An animal in a fight for its life can become enraged and will instinctively act with total indifference,” he said adding that proper techniques should be used.
Referring to acidosis, Perrins said cattle were intended to eat grass; acidosis resulted from feeding cattle food, usually corn or grain, for which their digestive system was not designed.
“When cattle are fed corn it causes the rumen to expand and apply pressure to the animal’s lungs which can cause suffocation.
“According to author Michael Pollan, ‘in some cases a tube has to be shoved down the animal’s oesophagus in order to avoid suffocation’.
“Changing an animal’s natural diet in order to benefit us is cruel. The only reason we feed the cows corn is that it fattens them up quickly so we can slaughter them earlier and get more beef from each cow.”
Acidosis caused cattle to stop eating and eat dirt in an effort to calm the burning sensation, and they would pant and salivate excessively.
They could also develop what was known as “feedlot bloat”.
zodidi.dano@inl.co.za
Cape Argus
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