Dog poisonings are on the rise, with criminals allegedly targeting residents’ pets. This comes after eight dogs were poisoned and killed within a week, five of them on Wednesday morning, 3 April 2024.
The five poisoned on Wednesday were in Amajuba Park, while the remaining three were in Lennoxton.
Heather Gero from Newcastle’s SPCA added, “The poisoning of animals has escalated, and I’ve heard there have been dogs poisoned in Heuwel Laan (Hutten Heights). The most common type of poison used is two-step, which is purchased illegally at the taxi rank. While used for rat poison, two-step is often used for burglaries because it works so fast.”
Moreover, Jan van Rensburg of Magenta Security and Chairperson for Newcastle Community Policing Forum (CPF) Sectors four and five, explained, “Dogs are often poisoned so that they do not pose a threat to burglars or alarm their owners that someone was entering their property.”
As burglaries are already a cause of concern in Newcastle, with the added concern of one’s animals being killed in the process, it was now essential for residents to step up their game and heighten their vigilance.
Ismaeel Dhalech of Optimus Protection Services (OPS) and the Chairperson for the Newcastle CPF, concurred with van Rensburg and Gero in that dog poisonings were linked to burglaries. Such was the nature of crime, Dhalech explained a patrol was conducted on Tuesday night, 2 April 2024, with OPS and the CPF noting a worrying trend. “The number of people walking in suburbs during the night is a lot, and these are usually ‘paras’ who do not work or live in the area,” explained Dhalech.
These individuals, under the cover of darkness, had the ideal opportunity to monitor which homes had dogs and carry out their actions.
While dogs were being poisoned in town, Newcastle Veterinary Clinic’s Dr Jacqui Burdon explained that it was essential to look out for signs of poisoning. These signs included immense salivation, vomiting, diarrhoea and seizures.
Agreeing with Gero that two step was the most common type of poison used on dogs, Burdon explained Newcastle Veterinary Clinic was fully prepared to treat dogs that were poisoned. “We have an antidote injection which we use. We also put the dog on a drip, and if the dog is having seizures, we will give them medication to calm them down and assist with seizures,” she stated.
On top of this, an activated charcoal paste and laxative were also given to the dog to help the animal’s body from the dangerous poisons. While sporting a high success rate in saving dogs’ lives, Dr Burdon noted that time was of the essence and as soon as a person suspected their animal was poisoned, they needed to rush them to a vet.
Furthermore, Dhalech emphasised the need for vigilance, advising residents to ensure their homes are secured with decent outdoor lighting and to check when their dog barks.
With this disturbing trend taking place in Newcastle, community input is vital. What are your thoughts on the above?
Share your views in the comments section below.
Comments 2
I’ve tried to address this so many times on Facebook but people ignore, it’s because our street lights in the residential areas are forever off even when we don’t have loadshedding and that causes so many unknown people to be walking the streets and you can’t even see anything because it’s dark, the activity at night has increased so much even though we are not in loadshedding but the street lights are switched off, for no reason. Our dogs lives are at stake because of this as well.
Where is our police force, they no longer patrol like before and seem to be totally absent from residential areas and the CBD. People just walk around aimlessly and the police are absent…