Van Gaalens Shooting

[Halfdoesyn]

The Facebook comments are priceless, all that uninformed, blinkered and rabid narrow mindedness, I can now kind of see why despite how terrible their leader is many people still vote unequivocally Anc, it's just a universal part of human nature.

 

What did Madmarc say happened, can't see his post anywhere?

Post #55, quoted in #56 & #57

[Ampandy]

Silencer, or more importantly noise suppressor is only legal for . 22 calibre, so if the farmer had access to such a commodity then yes. As for the land being a picnic spot', that is privately owned land opened to the public. Rights of admission, terms and conditions apply, and so does an indemnity apply. The land owner did what was necessary to protect his land, livestock and visitors to his land. Just imagine the uproar if a child was mauled by the feral animals, bear in mind the indemnity the land owner has.

I fully agree with the action taken and as someone that lives and works from a small holding I have had to do the same in the past. Will also not hesitate to do so again.

[Skylark]

Read the whole thread

There's so much drivel(not pointing fingers at anyone, this is bikehub after all) to sift through and I have a life to live. Well if anyone reads this and is kind enough to direct me I'd appreciate it.

 

Edit, sorted, thanks hubbers.

[Skylark]

Post #55, quoted in #56 & #57

Shot man, appreciated, will help others reading this thread.

[Undun]

The Facebook comments are priceless, all that uninformed, blinkered and rabid narrow mindedness, I can now kind of see why despite how terrible their leader is many people still vote unequivocally Anc, it's just a universal part of human nature.

 

What did Madmarc say happened, can't see his post anywhere?

MAD MARK SAYS....

[L.T.G]

I was there when this happened. Having lunch with my family. I saw the farmer walk past us with a shotgun. Someone else asked what was up. He explained there was a problem with feral dogs killing his livestock and posing a danger to visitors. We looked across towards the dam and the one dog was standing there stalking the ducks and other birds who had now moved into the water after being chased by the dog.

 

Not sure what dog it was but it was a big dog (Rottweiler size) and didn't look friendly. The farmer walked down to the reeds on the path where rides start and a farm worker walked down towards where the dog was. It had just climbed through the fence and was standing underneath a tree. When the farm worker chased the dog, it just stood there not afraid at all. It eventually sauntered off into the reeds, after which we heard a shot. This was obv when the farmer shot the dog.

 

However:- 10 min before the shot went off the farmer stood talking to a family having a picnic near the reeds. This was just as you turn left on the trail before the reeds and river. The family had packed up and were walking back up towards the parking lot, they were actually in the parking area when the shot went off. So I question the distance they were from the actual killing, and no way was the kid anywhere close enough to witness the killing. Unless there was another family in the vicinity. I doubt very much that the farmer would have discharged the shotgun in such close proximity of people and children.

 

Maybe the farmer could have dealt with this differently, everyone will have their opinions, be they right or wrong.

 

But understand this. Feral dogs or wild dogs are extremely dangerous. In packs they will not hesitate to attack an adult human, and alone they will attack and eat a child without hesitation. These dogs hunt for food without discrimination and cannot be rehabilitated back to a domestic dog even when caught. They are also very intelligent and difficult to catch.

I deal with farmers every day, and have heard how these packs have taken out fully grown cattle, and in one instance a fully grown bull.

 

The only remedy is to hunt them and shoot them.

 

I wonder what the response would have been if this same dog had attacked the family while they were having a picnic and mauled or killed their child !!! The farmer would have been blamed as well for not keeping his guests safe.

 

I support what the farmer did.

Thanks for this madmarc.

 

so chuffed to get real first hand feedback instead of the guesses and defaming tree hugging vegan hippie concocted stories that have filled the Facebook thread.

I've let Erik's son, Victor, know about your post and he says it's spot on!

I'm a bit late to this thread but it seems most hubbers, like me, side with Erik on this.

I've known him for some time and He wouldn't do something like this unless it was really necessary.

I'd previously thought perhaps the timing could've been a little off, but after you explained that no one actually saw the deed happen and definitely didn't happen right in front of any children, then Erik handled it spot on.

As has been mentioned, everyone is all up in arms about this because no one was injured or hurt, but had that dog got hold of someone then Erik would've been demonized just like he being now anyway.

I'll be at FUN Gaalens again this weekend to ride ....and to pat, tickle and play with all his dogs that very well looked after and loved.

[dev null]

My wife came back from her ride at VG on Sunday, and told me Eric shot a dog on his property. Told me the animal was killing livestock.

 

Told her then, this is the nature of farm life. Once these dogs get a taste for easy pickings they cant really be stopped or rehabilitated.

 

This is not a public place, it is private property, where the owner may do as he seems fit within the law.

 

Move along.... There really is nothing to see here.

 

Cant wait for my next ride there... and after this I will not have to worry about rabid dogs trying to take a chunk out of my slow-ass calf.

 

 

Big difference to what he did vs, me sorting out the neighbor's FKN cat that pisses against my garage door and on the kid's trampoline

 

Get a big dog that scares kitty cat away.  My own cats refuse to enter my backyard where my big white GS lives.

[dev null]

Silencer, or more importantly noise suppressor is only legal for . 22 calibre, so if the farmer had access to such a commodity then yes.

 

 

Where did you get this nonsense from?

 

Silencers and Noise Suppressors are used right across the range from 223 to 308 and more for hunting.

[NotSoBigBen]

Thanks for this madmarc.

 

so chuffed to get real first hand feedback instead of the guesses and defaming tree hugging vegan hippie concocted stories that have filled the Facebook thread.

I've let Erik's son, Victor, know about your post and he says it's spot on!

I'm a bit late to this thread but it seems most hubbers, like me, side with Erik on this.

I've known him for some time and He wouldn't do something like this unless it was really necessary.

I'd previously thought perhaps the timing could've been a little off, but after you explained that no one actually saw the deed happen and definitely didn't happen right in front of any children, then Erik handled it spot on.

As has been mentioned, everyone is all up in arms about this because no one was injured or hurt, but had that dog got hold of someone then Erik would've been demonized just like he being now anyway.

I'll be at FUN Gaalens again this weekend to ride ....and to pat, tickle and play with all his dogs that very well looked after and loved.

 

'tree hugging vegan hippie' - jissis bru another keyboard in it's moer 

[madmarc]

I see their ratings are taking a hammering on their bookface page.

Maybe those that support Eric from BikeHub could visit his page and lend a bit of support with a 5 star rating.

 

Its not the MTB page but the Cheese Farm page

 

https://www.facebook.com/Van-Gaalens-Cheese-Farm-130208170413498/reviews/?ref=page_internal

 

I posted what i witnessed on their page as well.

 

Just a thought !!

[BDF]

Thanks for this madmarc.

 

so chuffed to get real first hand feedback instead of the guesses and defaming tree hugging vegan hippie concocted stories that have filled the Facebook thread.

I've let Erik's son, Victor, know about your post and he says it's spot on!

I'm a bit late to this thread but it seems most hubbers, like me, side with Erik on this.

I've known him for some time and He wouldn't do something like this unless it was really necessary.

I'd previously thought perhaps the timing could've been a little off, but after you explained that no one actually saw the deed happen and definitely didn't happen right in front of any children, then Erik handled it spot on.

As has been mentioned, everyone is all up in arms about this because no one was injured or hurt, but had that dog got hold of someone then Erik would've been demonized just like he being now anyway.

I'll be at FUN Gaalens again this weekend to ride ....and to pat, tickle and play with all his dogs that very well looked after and loved.

These people amaze me. They clearly have a misguided concept of what is and what is not important. I have read through a whole bunch of the comments and it almost looks the same as mob violence at a political rally! It seems they reckon it's cool to just hop on the band wagon without having been there or even finding out the real truth before they commit to making comments.

 

A wise man (cant remember which one) told me this once: "Never judge others by their actions and yourself by your good intentions."

 

I would like to see a volunteer group from this crowd step up and go and catch all these feral dogs from Van Gaalens and the neighbouring farms. They can house them, tame them and let their kids play with them.

Rant off.

[rouxtjie]

These people amaze me. They clearly have a misguided concept of what is and what is not important. I have read through a whole bunch of the comments and it almost looks the same as mob violence at a political rally! It seems they reckon it's cool to just hop on the band wagon without having been there or even finding out the real truth before they commit to making comments.

 

A wise man (cant remember which one) told me this once: "Never judge others by their actions and yourself by your good intentions."

 

I would like to see a volunteer group from this crowd step up and go and catch all these feral dogs from Van Gaalens and the neighbouring farms. They can house them, tame them and let their kids play with them.

Rant off.

Bells....pour yourself one

[scotty]

 

I would like to see a volunteer group from this crowd step up and go and catch all these feral dogs from Van Gaalens and the neighbouring farms. They can house them, tame them and let their kids play with them.

Rant off.

I would like to see the people who are responsible for allowing this in the first place stand before the feral dogs, then let the shotgun go off. 

[hayleyearth]

I see their ratings are taking a hammering on their bookface page.

 

Maybe those that support Eric from BikeHub could visit his page and lend a bit of support with a 5 star rating.

 

Its not the MTB page but the Cheese Farm page

 

https://www.facebook.com/Van-Gaalens-Cheese-Farm-130208170413498/reviews/?ref=page_internal

 

I posted what i witnessed on their page as well.

 

Just a thought !!

 

I thought about it, but then nothing I started typing was nice towards 99% of the idiots on there 

[Long Wheel Base]

I was there when this happened. Having lunch with my family. I saw the farmer walk past us with a shotgun. Someone else asked what was up. He explained there was a problem with feral dogs killing his livestock and posing a danger to visitors. We looked across towards the dam and the one dog was standing there stalking the ducks and other birds who had now moved into the water after being chased by the dog.

 

Not sure what dog it was but it was a big dog (Rottweiler size) and didn't look friendly. The farmer walked down to the reeds on the path where rides start and a farm worker walked down towards where the dog was. It had just climbed through the fence and was standing underneath a tree. When the farm worker chased the dog, it just stood there not afraid at all. It eventually sauntered off into the reeds, after which we heard a shot. This was obv when the farmer shot the dog.

 

However:- 10 min before the shot went off the farmer stood talking to a family having a picnic near the reeds. This was just as you turn left on the trail before the reeds and river. The family had packed up and were walking back up towards the parking lot, they were actually in the parking area when the shot went off. So I question the distance they were from the actual killing, and no way was the kid anywhere close enough to witness the killing. Unless there was another family in the vicinity. I doubt very much that the farmer would have discharged the shotgun in such close proximity of people and children.

 

Maybe the farmer could have dealt with this differently, everyone will have their opinions, be they right or wrong.

 

But understand this. Feral dogs or wild dogs are extremely dangerous. In packs they will not hesitate to attack an adult human, and alone they will attack and eat a child without hesitation. These dogs hunt for food without discrimination and cannot be rehabilitated back to a domestic dog even when caught. They are also very intelligent and difficult to catch.

I deal with farmers every day, and have heard how these packs have taken out fully grown cattle, and in one instance a fully grown bull.

 

The only remedy is to hunt them and shoot them.

 

I wonder what the response would have been if this same dog had attacked the family while they were having a picnic and mauled or killed their child !!! The farmer would have been blamed as well for not keeping his guests safe.

 

I support what the farmer did.

Guys I'm not sure we should believe Marc. I know him, He rides a Trek dual sus and has campy on his colnago road bike. He is also known to enjoy his german beer a lot(or is it part of his job?). So how reliable can he be?      HERE IS MY SANS FONT.

 

Thanks for the post Marc, At least we got the proper story and not some FB warrior post.

[Joe Low]

"Dogs did not respond to calls or basic instruction" ???

 

How many official languages did they try that in ?  Maybe the dogs would have been fine with Ndebele and this was a needless and tragic loss of life.

 

 

All this is, is a little undiplomatic shooting with kids around.  Whilst explaining to them why the dog was shot, parents should carry on and say what's going to happen to the goats, sheep and chickens they've just been petting.