Dogs suffer painful deaths

A veterinary hospital animal specialist, Fanus Kritzinger has urged residents to begin training their puppies to eat from a specific bowl or only accept food from certain members of the family to prevent their animals being poisoned.

This follows an outcry from the community after two dogs were reportedly poisoned during an attempted house robbery in Hummingbird Avenue, Allens Nek on 16 March.

It was reported that a poisoned piece of meat was thrown through the gate to the two dogs to keep them quiet as the robbers attempted to gain entry into the house. The dogs are said to have died a painful death during the early hours of 17 March. Police have not been able to confirm this incident.

Kritzinger said, “It is hard to prevent a dog from eating a piece of meat, but a dog can be trained as a puppy to eat from a specific bowl or be fed by certain members of the family.”

Although the practice is not guaranteed to work for every dog, Kritzinger said a constantly trained dog would adhere to the rules.

He added that cases of dog poisoning were very isolated.

“These opportunists walk around throwing pieces of meat and see where they can get lucky,” Kritzinger added.

He explained that a poisoned dog acts like a person having a seizure, and the dog lies on its stomach and salivates.

According to Kritzinger, the common poison used during a robbery is called Temik, commonly known as Two Steps, a poisonous granule product used by agricultural farmers to control pests.

The product is dubbed Two Steps because it is believed that once intoxicated, the victim, whether it be a person or animal only takes two steps before dying.

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