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Possible poisoning of puppy calls for community support

After struggling to save their 10-month-old dog's life from a possible intentional poisoning, a local family has had to make the tough decision to put that dog down this morning.

Carrie Smith, owner of the dog named Shadow, believes someone poisoned the Labrador-mix with rat poison Thursday afternoon, but is not absolutely sure.

“Well, right now how it happened is speculation because we haven’t been able to figure out if it’s for sure,” Smith said.

“He acted like he wasn’t feeling good that evening and when he was still sick that Friday morning, I took him to the vet,” Smith said. “We just moved (to the Hacienda Trailer Court) a couple of weeks ago and cleaned up the yard.”

Smith said she could not find anything Shadow could have gotten into in the closed-off yard.

Shadow’s blood sample tested positive for toxins, but Smith and veterinarians have been unable to specify exactly what the toxin is. A specialist was called in to review the blood slides but has been unable to identify the toxin as of Tuesday evening.

Shadow acted as a therapy dog for her son. Smith and her family lost their 16-year-old dog in February.

“He already lost one dog this year, and he’s heartbroken about the possibility of losing a second one,” Smith said Tuesday.

Penny Velk, the owner of Henny Penny Cupcakes, said 10 percent of her sales this week will be given to Smith to help with the piling bills from the veterinarian's office. Velk heard about Smith’s troubles when she saw Smith’s post on the Havre online yard sale page on Facebook that urged people to watch for any suspicious activity and help find who poisoned her dog.

“When I heard about this, I thought someone should help out,” Velk said. “Maybe this will bring (dog poisoning) to the forefront of the community.”

Velk sympathized with Smith in part due to a similar experience she had. A couple of years ago, someone threw a toxic rabbit into her yard, where her dogs were fenced in. Velk went outside with her dogs, who began to play with the rabbit. She took the animal away from them, bagged it and gave it to a veterinarian.

“You could just smell the chemicals coming off this thing,” Velk said. “The vet confirmed that the rabbit was toxic. The community needs to be aware there are people out there doing these things.”

“I hope they catch who’s doing this,” Velk said. “Or I hope we can send them a message, at least.”

Smith said her veterinary bills amounted to $500 Monday morning and were probably up to $800 as of Tuesday afternoon.

The dog was not eating very well and his health was fluctuating since Thursday.

This morning, Smith said, “Shadow has gotten weaker and we can’t watch him suffer anymore. We are going to have to put him to sleep.”

 
 

Reader Comments(4)

vicvenom writes:

This is nothing new to Havre. I had a dog die mysteriously a few years ago. I told a friend from Havre about it, and he mentioned the Northside Dog Killer. Apparently in the 1970s or 80s there were several dogs poisoned in North Havre. I think he said it was strychnine in those cases. It is sick that someone would feel the need to kill an innocent creature. They say a dog is man's best friend. It is too bad that dogs can't say the thing about mankind.

havredonthaveit writes:

Havre has always had more than its fair share of hateful, mean, small minded, selfish, rude and jealous people. This is one more example of Havre Its the People being more of a problem statement than an asset. Thankfully, there are caring people like Penny Velk willing to help and be a real asset to the community. Let's support her efforts and help these folks out. It hurts to lose a family member, and pets are members of the family. A pox on the loser that did this!

dsrobins writes:

Many years ago when I was just a bit older than these boys, I lost a beautiful purebred Beagle puppy the same say. It was heartbreaking. I nursed him for days, but he got sicker and sicker. When he finally died, we asked the vet to let us know why he died. He confirmed the pup had been given strychnine. It's sad to see bad things like this still happen in Havre 60 years later.

terrible writes:

This breaks my heart and pisses me off!!!