CONCERN AS MORE DOGS POISONED

A WEEK after dog owners in the Weshof area found eight dogs dead in their back yards, another nine dogs have been reported as poisoned – this time in the Komani Park residential area of Komani.

The Rep reported (“Tragic poisoning of Weshof dogs”, October 13) that eight dogs had died after suspected cases of poisoning in the residential area over the previous weekend. A double cab bakkie was stolen from a nearby premises at the same time.

An irate dog owner called The Rep on Monday to report that nine dogs had been poisoned in Komani Park at the weekend with another two vehicles stolen.

She said the family had found their beloved pet lying dead outside on Monday morning and had taken it to a vet for a post-mortem. The findings had proven that the dog had ingested poison.She said she would be laying charges with the police this week.

Isebella Blignault, who lost two sausage dogs, said their bakkie was stolen on Saturday night. Both their dogs had succumbed to the poison, believed to have been ingested through pellets thrown onto the front lawn.

Blignault said residents were also concerned that a child could easily ingest the poison with fatal results.

Unconfirmed reports yesterday were that a further four dogs had been poisoned at Amberdale just outside the town and that a bakkie had been stolen.

State vet Dr Alan Fischer confirmed that he had performed post-mortems on five dogs to date. The dogs had ingested a poison in the form of a blue-gray granule. The results of the post-mortems were being awaited, but Fischer said it was suspected that the poison was either Aldicarb, a poison used as an insecticide, or Sodium Fluro Acetate, also known as Two-step. He confirmed that the poisons could be fatal to humans if ingested.

Komani vet Elreza Klopper said 23 dogs and two cats in total had been reported as poisoned. Three dogs were treated but failed to survive. The poison may be a combination of different poisons mixed together and was extremely fast-acting. She urged home owners to inspect their yards and to consider any strange substances/food thrown into their yards as possibly dangerous and lethal.

Police spokesman Captain Namhla Mdleleni confirmed that cases of theft of a vehicle and of cruelty to animals were under investigation.

Community Policing Forum chairman Andries Schlebusch said the CPF was aware of the poisonings and asked residents to report suspicious activity to him on 072-242-3261 or to the police on 10111.