No food for Durban's police horses

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Durban Metro Police's Equestrian Unit is in shambles with horses being left without food, hay and shavings as a result of on-going procurement issues. Last week, the horses were starved for three days and members of the unit had to fork out money from their own pockets to buy food as they could not stand to see the animals being neglected. To date, there is still a problem with the supply of shavings for the animals, which is apparently an on-going problem just like the food supply. There are currently 14 horses at the unit. The horses rely on the shavings to provide a clean, healthy stall, free of odour. The unit needed at least eight bags of hay and two bags of food to sustain the horses for a day, which costs about R1500. However, these necessities were not being delivered because of a supply chain management issue. This week, the food issue had been resolved but shavings were still not being delivered.

"We are tired of this situation. It happens time and time again. Orders get sent on time but someone is not signing the orders off, and as a result, the horses are having suffer, month after month. These are animals that we are dealing with. Live animals which need to be fed and cared for, just like human beings," said the source at the municipality.

Pictures sent to the Sunday Tribune by sources this week, show that horses were made to sleep on the floor. Hay has since been provided by a contractor, but still there was no shavings. Picture: Supplied

And it is not the first time Durban's Metro Police was affected by supply issues for its animal units.

In 2015, the shortage of dog food and dog shampoo, as well as outstanding vet bills was widely reported.

It was alleged that Durban Metro Police officers were digging into their own pockets to pay for essential items for their dogs, as the unit battled to overcome the shortages in food and care products.

An outsourced contract worker who looked after the horses at the stables also said they had problems at the unit. The worker, who cannot be identified for fear of reprisals, said they too, were affected by the delays.

"It has been a year since we started working here, we never receive our salaries on time. When we approached our employer he said the delays were caused by the city to pay him. But we had to come for animals who had to be fed daily,” said the worker.

Another source disclosed that there was a lack of logistical support due to factionalism going on within the Metro police. The source added that soon the police would not have uniforms since there was no order issued for uniforms.

Some of the city's horses eating supplies bought out of pocket by metro police. Picture: Sibusiso Ndlovu/ANA Pictures

Contacted for comment on Wednesday, Steve Middleton, the deputy head of operations at the Metro Police, said he was not aware of the issues with the unit, however, it was highly possible.

“Operations rely on logistic support and when there is shortcomings it effects the whole service delivery,” said Middleton.

Durban and Coast SPCA spokeswoman Lindsey Concer said according to their last monthly check-up, which was conducted in May, the Metro horse stables were up to standard but when the Sunday Tribune visited the stables this week, this was not the case. Horses were still left without shavings.

* The Sunday Tribune will carry a progress update of this story in Sunday's print edition.

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