Both dogs, a two-year-old Bullmastiff male (Benji) and a one-year-old Ridgeback bitch (Gina) have since been removed from his care by Knysna Animal Welfare Society (KAWS.)
"I just lost it. I can't believe what I have done. I can't sleep. I love my dogs," Meyer struggled to contain his emotions during a candid interview with the Knysna-Plett Herald on Tuesday, June 17, after he appeared in the Knysna Magistrate's Court.
But Meyer, retired Knynsa businessman who lives in Brenton-on-Lake, questions whether his action caused his dogs any real harm and says that his neighbours have been against him since he moved to the area 12 years ago.
"I have never really been happy in Knysna. I won't ever come back. I hate my neighbours," he says, claiming that someone scratched his new car with a rock some years ago and that he regularly receives complaints and threats about his dogs "being too big and noisy" and running free without a leash. Three weeks ago, when one of Brenton-on-Lake's much-loved 'tame' deer was attacked by dogs, his pets were unfairly blamed, he says.
Captain Bernadine Steyn of the SAPS Media Centre confirmed that Meyer is being charged with "confining, chaining or securing any animal unnecessarily or under such conditions or in such a manner that it causes unnecessary suffering to that animal".
He is set to appear in court again on Friday, July 11.
At around 16:00 on that ill-fated Thursday afternoon, a Brenton-on-Lake resident went to the window to check why the neighbours' dogs where making such a racket.
"As I looked out the window, I noticed a coloured man walking with two dogs and a sports car stopping. The driver put one of the dogs on a leash, keeping the dog outside the car. I thought that maybe he couldn't get the dog in the car, but when he drove off at such a speed, I couldn't believe it!"
She says that the bullmastiff was running very fast next to the car as they passed her window, but then she heard the car accelerate.
"I was on the phone with someone when I saw the same car come past again with a second dog - whose legs were dragging. I'm not particularly a dog lover, but I burst into tears and banged on my window, despite realising it was futile."
As the driver of the sports car was coming up Galjoen Street with the second dog, two women walking their own dogs were coming down the street. A third resident walking in the normally very quiet and peaceful community said a "shiny black sports car" had caught her eye minutes before, because it was going over the speed bump too fast. As she turned into Roman Avenue, she heard one of the ladies walking their dogs, screaming.
"I looked back and saw the black car I had seen earlier with a dog running next to the car. The dog didn't appear to be running smoothly, easily or happily. The driver was holding it on a leash. The dog looked as if it was losing its footing and so I began running towards the car, shouting at the man to stop. He looked across at me and shouted for me to 'bugger off' and carried on driving."
The two women moving from the top of the street were so traumatised by what they saw that they were not able to speak to Knysna-Plett Herald last week. They laid a charge against the driver with the Knysna Police and also reported the incident to KAWS.
The eyewitnesses have asked to remain anonymous.
"At first we thought the man, whom we don't know at all, had got his dog's leash caught in his car door by accident, but as he came up the road we realised something wasn't right. The dog was tugging back on its haunches and defecated all over the road. As the dog was trying to pull loose from her leash, she lost her balance and ended up on her side."
The lady who was walking by herself confirms this in her statement. "The dog's front feet gave way under it and the dog fell onto her left side and was now being dragged at some speed, hanging from its collar - I was running from behind towards the car, still shouting for it to stop while the others ladies were also running towards the car from the front, also yelling for the driver to stop!"
The dog-walkers blocked the road to force the car to a halt, as it was obvious to them the car was going too fast for the dog to keep up or get on its feet again. The pedestrian tried to take the leash from the driver's hand, but he refused to let go. According to eyewitness reports the Ridgeback was lying panting on her side with blood, urine and faeces on the tarmac and couldn't get up when Meyer tried to pull off again.
"I just couldn't think straight with all those women screaming and swearing at me and I was screaming back at them. I had had a hellish day and was just trying to get my dogs back home before they attacked someone or really did get hold of a deer. It's not true that I said I was trying to teach my dogs a lesson after they escaped from the yard," he retorts.
Meyer is adamant that he is a nature and animal lover - to the extend that his employees have strict instruction from him that they may not even kill a snake.
States the pedestrian: "I began to calmly say to the man, 'Let go of the leash!' I was terrified that he would drive off dragging the dog again, so I leaned into the window and bit his hand as hard as I could."
Since Meyer apparently still wouldn't let go and was still edging the car forward, one of the dogwalkers rushed over and unclipped the leash from the Ridgeback's collar.
More neighbours, alarmed by the loud confrontation in the street, joined the scene of the commotion. Meyer got out of his car and switched the leash to his other hand while someone went to fetch water for the dog from the nearest house.
One of the dog-walkers remarks: "The driver seemed completely calm. It was so odd. There was no interaction between him and his dog, who was lying there with her bleeding paws. He did apologise and said he was having a bad day and was late for an appointment."
According to Meyer, he had just arrived home before the incident and had received another call complaining about his dogs when one of his employees called to say the dogs had escaped.
"Gina is my baby. She runs so fast I really thought I could just run her home because she didn't want to get into the car."
The neighbours refused to let the driver take his dog. Another resident, Philip Swart, fetched his car and took the Ridgeback to Knysna Veterinary Clinic where Dr Mark Shortreed treated Gina and then later, Benji.
Shortreed confirms that Gina had suffered a ruptured diaphragm leading to a diaphragmatic hernia and Benji suffered mild injuries from running next to the car. "Gina is recovering well," he says.
Meyer isn't convinced that Gina's torn diaphragm was as a result of what he had done, but possibly from "earlier trauma" when she was younger. "I felt her pull back on the leash when she saw the other dogs because she was afraid of them. I thought she would just get up again and continue running," he said.
Meyer admits to being angry with the "screaming women" and never with his dogs. He denies that Gina defecated and speculates that Benji's injury to his paw may have been caused by fighting with another dog through a fence.
"I just lost all common sense. I lost my cool. I'm so sorry. I just felt numb. I didn't drive that fast - it's a very low sports car and I probably only went about 10km/h. I'm seeking professional help for my anger issues."
Meyer feels "fate" has caught up with him and is more than willing to pay his R11 797 vet bill.
Marten van Leeuwen, chairman of KAWS, confirms that the two dogs in question have been voluntarily surrendered and both are receiving the best care possible at an undisclosed facility.
*A countrywide media frenzy has erupted around the story, and readers have been trying to identify the culprit who could only be named once he had appeared in court. A restaurateur in Brenton-on-Sea, André Venter (previously Brigadier) who also drives a sports car, albeit of a different make, a black Z4 BMW Coupe, should not be confused for Meyer.
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These dog-walkers put themselves on the line by blocking a road in Brenton-on-Lake when they witnessed a man dragging his Ridgeback on a leash next to his sports car.
ARTICLE: ANOESCHKA VON MECK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
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