Pretoria hit by string of dog poisoning incidents

About 25 cases of dog poisoning have occurred in the Moot and west of Pretoria in the past few weeks.

Moot resident Nico Lessing said his dog was poisoned in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Rekord Moot reported.

“My neighbour’s dog was also poisoned. It is definitely a trend sticking out its head in the Moot,” said Lessing, who said he’d heard of more than 20 cases of dog-poisoning.

A family in 25th Avenue, Rietfontein lost two dogs.

Rochelle Bronkhorst said she and her family were returning home from a school event on Wednesday night when she noticed something was amiss.

“It was already very late and our Labrador would not stop barking. After a few unsuccessful attempts at silencing the dogs, my husband went outside to investigate. He called for me to alert the police immediately when he noticed one of our dogs lying on the ground,” said Bronkhorst.

“This ordeal has been very traumatising to me and my family. People suggested we give our Labrador charcoal which would cause her throw up the poison she had eaten. Shortly after we thought she would be okay and left her to rest a bit.

“We later noticed that she was making strange noises. She was struggling to breathe and there was a lot of blood coming out of her mouth. We knew that this was the end of the road for our precious dog.”

As indicated on the security footage, an unknown man gained entry to the Bronkhorsts’ yard with the intention of stealing the car. The family pet Pug can be seen lying lifeless on the ground after being poisoned.

Image: Rochelle Bronkhorst Facebook

Kilner Park Security responded immediately, but the perpetrators had already ran off. Bronkhorst found what looked like polony with small black balls on in the yard which suspected had been thrown over the fence.

Tshwane SPCA spokesperson Jacqui Grove told Rekord on Thursday that no cases of dog poisoning had been reported to the SPCA.

Moot police spokesperson Anton Breedt also could not confirm any cases in the past few weeks.

Residents in the Moot are urged to be vigilant to protect their dogs and be on the lookout for suspicious behaviour.

– Caxton News Service

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