Mystery surrounds the discovery of several dead farm animal that have been washing up on a beach in Gordon’s Bay.
Several dead piglets and calves have washed up on Cayman Beach.
Nico Van Niekerk, a resident of Gordon's Bay, made the shocking discovery on Friday.
He said he was strolling down the beach at around 11:30 am when he saw the varkies.
“Went for a walk with my kids and saw it. I could see seven or eight, very weird to find dead piglets on the beach,” Van Niekerk said.
“Still no idea what the reason is. Must be washed down from the canal.”
He said dead calves washed up on the same beach on Sunday.
The dead piglets have been collected by the Animal Welfare Society (AWS) Helderberg.
Manager Julia Evans said they suspect the animals are from Vlakteplaas and may have been washed away by the Soet River.
“There is some major work going on with the river that runs from that area down into the sea. So there are a lot of pigs, calves, and goats out there,” Evans explained.
“I have had a call out before with a sow that has given birth on the banks and the piglets have landed in the water.”
She added: “My guess is that the same thing happened with the piglets, these were all newborns. I suspect that they are coming from Vlakteplaas, it's a suspicion it's not a confirmed fact.”
Ward councillor Sean Stacey agreed that the animals likely came upstream from Vlakteplaas.
Stacey urged whoever discovered the animals to log a service request so that the council can send the relevant officials to collect and dispose of the carcasses.
On Facebook, residents had various theories for the dead animals on the beach.
Gwyneth Bernstein posted: “It’s sickening, last week I saw pig remains on bikini beach in gordons bay.”
Myrna May wrote: “Maybe someone had a ritual? Chased the pigs in the sea... Very strange scenario.”
Lisa Starr, founder of the Helderberg Ocean Awareness Movement (Hoam) believes the varkies may have been thrown into the river on purpose.
“It looks like they may have been stillborn and were thrown into the river sadly. It's not nice to see at all, but unless you are vegetarian this is what you eat,” Star said.