Woman fears her dogs were poisoned
One dies, another falls ill
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife dog owner is devastated by the sudden death of her 12-year-old Australian Terrier named Roo and is fearful somebody may be intentionally poisoning dogs.
Janet Pacey holds tightly on to her dog Candy who is slowly recovering after falling ill last week. Her other dog Roo died after Pacey said she saw them eating something off the ground in the Forrest Park area. She is worried that someone may have intentionally poisoned the dogs. - John McFadden/NNSL photo |
Janet Pacey, a businesswoman and the former president of the board of the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), posted on her Facebook page to warn people that one of her dogs had died and the other became very ill after they apparently ate something off the ground at Forrest Park, on the outskirts of downtown. Pacey said she initially thought Roo had suffered a stroke after falling ill on Canada Day. The dog died the next day.
"We were obviously wrong about Roo having a stroke, because Candy (her other dog) is now going through the same thing - convulsions and then seizures."
Pacey stated on her Facebook page last Friday.
"I saw her eat something on our walk in the bush and she started convulsing about 45 minutes to an hour later. She's stable but in critical condition with Dr. Hughes but we could be losing two dogs in two days."
The good news is, according to Pacey, that her other dog appears to be getting better. Candy was with Pacey at work on Monday morning.
"We honestly don't know what it was. They ate something in behind my house but we don't know what it was. We haven't found anything but we have a lot of theories. The vet doesn't know either.
He said it would take two weeks for the results of a toxicology exam," she said. "We think it might be a toxin, a nerve agent, a product that might be used in weed killing or killing bugs. Maybe somebody did poison them or maybe it was just something that dropped out of somebody's truck. We did find a dead raven there last week so we're wondering if it picked something up and ate it and died."
Pacey said she is traumatized by the death of one of her beloved dogs. My dog was a small breed dog so it should live to be 17 or 18 years old and it certainly was a shock, she said.
Pacey took a piece of tinfoil she found on the ground near where Pacey thought her dogs were eating something.
"We picked up the tinfoil and brought it to the RCMP but there's nothing on the tinfoil. So it may just be circumstance that it was in the same place," Pacey said. "They told me there was nothing to test plus it's not part of a criminal investigation so their lab wouldn't even bother touching it."
Pacey said that a bunch of her friends have been searching the area to see what they could find. Her other dog is getting better but Pacey said she's still wobbly on her feet and may have permanent damage, she said. She doesn't think anyone in her neighbourhood has a problem with her dogs or is a dog hater.
"I just want people to be super-aware that something they may not recognize as a toxin on the ground may cause death so be careful," Pacey said.
The president of the NWT SPCA Nicole Spencer shared Pacey's post on the SPCA Facebook page. "Urgent notice!!!! If you walk your dogs in the Forrest Park area please be careful. Janet's dog Roo passed away from what looks like a poisoning not a stroke. Please see her post," Spencer stated.
"Everybody should take it seriously. One dog has died and one dog is very ill," she said. If there's something out there that's going to harm other animals then everybody should be concerned."
Yellowknifer asked Dr. Micheal Hughes from the Yellowknife Veterinary Clinic, who treated both dogs, if he thought dogs were being intentionally poisoned in Yellowknife.
"I hope not. I don't have any evidence to say that but strange people do exist in the world so it's possible," the vet said. He added he has not seen any other dogs with similar symptoms recently.
"But I'd be really careful what my dog is sniffing and eating."
