Poisoned meat for dogs
A Vincent woman has warned other homeowners to keep a close eye on their pets after she twice found suspicious meat in her garden over the weekend.
Pat Sparg believes the boerewors she discovered in her yard was poisoned and meant to kill her three dogs Cassie, Charlie and Splashie, reports Zisanda Nkonkobe.
Sparg said she arrived home on Saturday night and found boerewors lying in the middle of her yard.
Looking closer, she saw the meat was laced with a white powder.
Sparg said she wrapped the boerewors in a packet and stored it away safely, only to find a similar looking piece of meat in her yard the following day.
“On Sunday morning I found something on my lawn again,” said Sparg. “It was another piece of boerewors with the same white stuff inside it. Luckily the dogs didn’t eat it.”
Sparg reported the matter to Cambridge Police Station, where she was told that she would have to open a case of cruelty to animals.
“That is insane. Someone obviously tried to kill my dogs. It should be a case of attempted murder, not cruelty to animals.”
Sparg was also advised to send the boerewors to be tested, which she did.
A local veterinary clinic, which asked not to be named, confirmed it was running tests and suspected the white substance to be a poison, most likely arginine phosphate.
Lionel Taylor, manager of SPCA, said arginine phosphate was commonly used to poison animals.
He said death is not immediate for an animal ingesting the substance and could take up to a few hours.
Sparg’s test results should be ready by Friday.
She said she had no idea who might be targeting her or her animals, adding she found it strange how the meat landed in her yard.
“I found the boerewors in the centre of my yard and no one could have gotten it there without coming into the house or getting into the neighbours’ yards,” she said.
Since her house is completely fenced off from all angles Sparg said the suspect would have needed a ladder to throw the boerewors over.
“But even if they did that, it wouldn’t have been able to fly all the way to where I found it. Something here is just not adding up.”
Police spokesperson Captain Leon Fortune said: “A case of cruelty to animals will be opened and then police will investigate it.”
8 Comments Already, Leave Yours Too
Its an old thing that started in the 90’s. Criminals poison the dogs with a drug thats known as ‘4step – or quickstep’ . Its a poison that kills the dog so quickly it literally take 5 steps and peels over. Once the dogs are down the hit your house …. Be very vigilant
PAT – maybe you should start looking at your neighbours with new eyes as it seems highly unlikely that a stranger could access their gardens and yours on so many different occasions. Someone close to you obviously isn’t enjoying your dogs as much as you are.
Poisoning started long before 90ies we just hear about it more. I also was advised to feed my pups on a plastic shopping bag – why? to get them used to them and not fear them as the crooks sometimes shake the bags at them to scare them.
We had an incident a number of years back when I heard a huge commotion inthe yard, some one had thrown a big meaty bone in there – it was right near the neighbour’s wall and considering she had already threatened to shoot my cats and poison my dogs I was not going to take any chances. I didn’t get it tested as would have accomplished nothing.
This is a common tactic used by robbers..they normally poison the dogs at 4 or 5 houses in one street then rob all of them in the same evening . Check with your neighbors ….Sorry to say but the chances are very good that you are being watched for a robbery.
We have neighbours that keep telling my son that they are going to poison his two cats as there is a cat that keeps “marking” around the stairwell. We know it is not our cats as they are both neuted and both stay indoors. We regularly see another tomcat on the stairwell but the neighbours would rather blame our cats.
How can adults threaten a CHILD like this, especially when our cats are the innocent ones? My son loves his cats with a passion so is always in a complete state with these threats and has nightmares about it!
I think anyone who can do this to ANY pets deserves to be locked away. Your pets are members of the family, especially where kids are concerned.
Pat, I really hope that your pets are alright. Best of luck.
This woman is just paranoid…it was simple a dog eating meat…criminals these days, just don’t give a ###t they will just force their way into your house…
@Gadget. The expression you want is “keels over”, describing what a boat does when it doesn’t have sufficient depth of water to stay afloat.
Vigilance certainly called for.
Yeah watch out for burglars. Go have a word with your neighbours – let them know you suspect something is a miss and that you are investigating. If it’s them maybe it’ll spook them into leaving your pups alone!
Hope your dogs are safe and goodluck
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