Christie MacCallum spends some last moments with her dog Henna-Rose
At least two sources of poison may have been used to kill two dogs and sicken four others in a Toronto city park, police said Tuesday, as they warned dog owners to keep their dogs leashed in the area.
Toronto police Det. Suzanne Pinto said that a soggy pile of bread found in the park may have been soaked in antifreeze, the same substance believed to have contaminated a drinking bowl for pets.
"Some liquid substance was poured and soaked all over the bread and it's probably been there for a couple of days and various animals probably got into it," Pinto told reporters.
Pinto said the bread will be analyzed but that most likely it was soaked in antifreeze.
"At this time it is not safe at all for any dog owner to have their dog off-leash in the park where they could easily gulp this off the ground within a second," she said.
Pinto said veterinarians treating two other dogs initially thought to have been poisoned determined they were made sick by other unrelated sources.
Toronto police are continuing their investigation into the incidents.
Christie MacCallum's dog, Henna-Rose, was one of the ones that died.
MacCallum said the two-year-old golden retriever began throwing up after her regular romp through the park on Sunday.
The dog's "kidney functions have deteriorated very significantly overnight and she's not able to pee even with a catheter; it's empty. So her kidneys are shutting down," McCallum told CBC News on Monday afternoon.
The animal became ill after drinking from a suspected contaminated water container in the off-leash area of the park.
Police said the off-leash area called Dog Hill will remain closed for the time being.
They found some antifreeze in water containers, but they're continuing to examine the entire area in case of other possible sources of poison.
No comments:
Post a Comment