Last Saturday, I had a strange experience.I had gone for a little shopping in the morning
at the nearby Spar.My shoppings are very small because we are only two,and and our needs
are very limited.We have very few visitors.That day We had a couple due to visit us in the
afternoon,so some extra buying became necessary.We don't stock things.We don't have a deep
freezer,because what is the use of buying meat and fish and storing deeply when it's available in smal
quantities daily. One might deeply regret if electricity fails for days due to power cuts,and the
meat gets rotten.
We usually do our little shopping on our way back home from school ,in a standard Choppies
bag.There is another reason for little shopping.I hate those customers in the long queue at the
till,I mean those obese couples with obese kids,with trolley full of dogfood,catfood,bulk family
pack beef,Boerwors etc whose transactions and packing cosume a lot of time whereby they
are cursed from behind (like caught behind in cricket ).I don't want to be cursed.
On Saturday ,after doing my little shopping at Spar,I was sitting in the car,pondering whether
I had forgotten anything.I had parked the car near a side road,not very busy.Then I saw a
strange thing.There was a bakkie parked on the other side.The owner,a white lady,was sitting
in the driver seat.Some farm workers got out from the back of the bakkie.Two of them
dragged a big sheep out of the bakkie and pushed it into a bag.The sheep didn't cry or struggle.
With much difficulty, they squeezed the live animal into the bag.The woman drove off.The
farm workers seemed to wait for another bakkie or taxi to take them home.Soon,a taxi came
and they got into it .
Everything was over in a few minutes.I was so stunned that,it was only then that I realised
that it was a case of cruelty against an animal.I blamed myself for not reacting.At least I could
have noted the number of the bakkie and reported to the SPCA.I don't know of any SPCA
office in this small town.Maybe these things don't matter here,because nobody had noticed
anything unusual in this incident.
My regrets faded as I remembered the good deeds I have done as an animal lover.On my 35
km drive to school daily, I am very cautious about not hurting the animals and birds on the
way.These include wild pigs,antelopes,hares,guinea fowls,foxes etc.Early in the morning,they
are very active.I hoot to alert them.Last month, I nearly hit a wild pig which crossed the
road from the left side,from the thick grass.Some days before I had seen a white farmer loading
a wild pig he had knocked down , into his bakkie.One day, I herad a strange noise from the
right side of the bonnet.I stopped the car and checked.A small bird had got trapped in the
bonnet.Gently, I opened the bonnet.The bird flew into the vast sky.
Last Saturday,I occasionally thought about the sheep.Did it matter much? The same
week, I had read about the ordeal of a 60-year old white lady who was hijacked in Johannesburg.
The hijackers drove her to KwaZulu Natal, where she was tortured and paraded in shebeens
as a trophy.They stuffed her in the boot of the car and drove around.Luckily she was not killed.
About both incidents, I ask myself." Did it matter much ?"
at the nearby Spar.My shoppings are very small because we are only two,and and our needs
are very limited.We have very few visitors.That day We had a couple due to visit us in the
afternoon,so some extra buying became necessary.We don't stock things.We don't have a deep
freezer,because what is the use of buying meat and fish and storing deeply when it's available in smal
quantities daily. One might deeply regret if electricity fails for days due to power cuts,and the
meat gets rotten.
We usually do our little shopping on our way back home from school ,in a standard Choppies
bag.There is another reason for little shopping.I hate those customers in the long queue at the
till,I mean those obese couples with obese kids,with trolley full of dogfood,catfood,bulk family
pack beef,Boerwors etc whose transactions and packing cosume a lot of time whereby they
are cursed from behind (like caught behind in cricket ).I don't want to be cursed.
On Saturday ,after doing my little shopping at Spar,I was sitting in the car,pondering whether
I had forgotten anything.I had parked the car near a side road,not very busy.Then I saw a
strange thing.There was a bakkie parked on the other side.The owner,a white lady,was sitting
in the driver seat.Some farm workers got out from the back of the bakkie.Two of them
dragged a big sheep out of the bakkie and pushed it into a bag.The sheep didn't cry or struggle.
With much difficulty, they squeezed the live animal into the bag.The woman drove off.The
farm workers seemed to wait for another bakkie or taxi to take them home.Soon,a taxi came
and they got into it .
Everything was over in a few minutes.I was so stunned that,it was only then that I realised
that it was a case of cruelty against an animal.I blamed myself for not reacting.At least I could
have noted the number of the bakkie and reported to the SPCA.I don't know of any SPCA
office in this small town.Maybe these things don't matter here,because nobody had noticed
anything unusual in this incident.
My regrets faded as I remembered the good deeds I have done as an animal lover.On my 35
km drive to school daily, I am very cautious about not hurting the animals and birds on the
way.These include wild pigs,antelopes,hares,guinea fowls,foxes etc.Early in the morning,they
are very active.I hoot to alert them.Last month, I nearly hit a wild pig which crossed the
road from the left side,from the thick grass.Some days before I had seen a white farmer loading
a wild pig he had knocked down , into his bakkie.One day, I herad a strange noise from the
right side of the bonnet.I stopped the car and checked.A small bird had got trapped in the
bonnet.Gently, I opened the bonnet.The bird flew into the vast sky.
Last Saturday,I occasionally thought about the sheep.Did it matter much? The same
week, I had read about the ordeal of a 60-year old white lady who was hijacked in Johannesburg.
The hijackers drove her to KwaZulu Natal, where she was tortured and paraded in shebeens
as a trophy.They stuffed her in the boot of the car and drove around.Luckily she was not killed.
About both incidents, I ask myself." Did it matter much ?"
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