The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) has announced that it will open a docket for contraventions of the Animals Protection Act 71 of 1962 against officials in the South African Police Service (SAPS), following the death of Sky, a police dog who was euthanised in September. Sky, a five-year-old Belgian Malinois dog, served as an arson detection specialist in Limpopo.
According to the NSPCA, Sky was placed in retirement and removed from her human handler earlier this year, after which she was kept in cages, developing extreme stress and separation anxiety. In March, she was moved to the SAPS K9 facility in Roodeplaat near Pretoria, but her well-being did not improve.
On the morning of September 7, Sky was found lying in her kennel at the SAPS Veterinary Hospital in Roodeplaat, Pretoria, covered in blood and seriously injured. She was taken to the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital for emergency treatment, but her condition deteriorated despite treatment, and she was humanely euthanised on September 9.
The NSPCA's investigation found evidence that Sky was kept in conditions that caused her unnecessary suffering, despite SAPS's own records documenting the risk to her. The investigation reviewed Sky's veterinary records, her treatment history, and the post-mortem report, which found that the injuries to both of Sky's front legs were accompanied by widespread muscle damage consistent with a prolonged period of physical exertion during a traumatic event.
The post-mortem report also found older stitched wounds, tooth wear inconsistent with her age, and changes to her adrenal glands, indicative of chronic stress. The NSPCA's special projects unit inspected the facility, met with SAPS twice, and found that Sky's ability to cope with her environment did not improve over a period of six months before her death.
Senior inspector Arno de Klerk, manager of the NSPCA's special projects unit, stated that Sky was a sentient being, and no working animal should ever be treated as an asset. The NSPCA has called on SAPS, and on every organisation that relies on working animals, to plan retirement, rehoming, and end-of-life decisions around the animal's welfare rather than treat them as a supply chain matter.
The NSPCA spokesperson, Samanta Stelli, said that the council's findings point to sustained distress rather than a single incident, and that those records trace Sky's distress back to March 2026, when she was treated for wounds to her face and legs and for teeth torn from her jaw.
Key points
- NSPCA to charge SAPS officials over death of police dog Sky
- Sky was kept in conditions that caused her unnecessary suffering
- NSPCA calls for better treatment of working animals in retirement and end-of-life decisions
