Two Dogs Are Ill After Pranksters Feed Them Poisonous Meatballs
Two dogs are in critical condition after hundreds of meatballs that had been lined with rat poison were scattered across San Francisco in an attempt to kill dogs in the area.
Two of the animals ate the meat and are now in critical condition, but residents have since collected and disposed of the meatballs that covered an area where dogs frequented.
Police are now on the look for the culprits, and have asked the general public for any information regarding the incident. A seven-year-old dachshund by the name of Oskar is currently being treated, but remains in critical, but stable, condition.
Officers have labeled the crime, “truly unusual,” and they have warned residents about the prank after they discovered the tainted meatballs in various neighborhoods, which include the Twin Peaks, Lower Haight, Cole Valley, Diamond Heights, Hayes Valley, and Bernal Heights.
Police don’t know who created the meatballs, which allegedly contained strychnine, a poisonous substance, however they added that no pet deaths have been linked to the meatballs yet.
Joseph Nannery, a Park Police station Inspector, stated, “We’ve heard (through social media) that there have been some pets that have supposedly died, but we can’t confirm any deaths.”
Nannery went on to add that the person who targeted the dogs probably either felt threatened by the creatures, disliked their barking, or are upset at their waste in the area.
Oskar is currently being treated at Animal Internal Medicine and Specialty Service, but Dr. Carrie Jurney, who is treating the pooch, stated that he’d had seizures after eating the meat, but he has now been placed on a ventilator.
Jurney added, “We’re still optimistic. We just have to get over a few more humps, but he’s a fighter.” Various police officers have stumped together to help pay the dog’s owner, Dorothy Schechter’s $26,000 vet bill.
