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Senseless act hurts couple
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Published: March 4, 2009
On Saturday morning, Feb. 21, my husband got up and took our dogs on the same walk we take every morning and every evening.
As we do every morning and evening, he picked up the litter people routinely toss out on the road.
As my husband crested the hill, he found two white plastic meat trays that were empty except for some bits of meat. He stacked one inside the other because, after spying a bag of trash, he wanted to put it all in the same bag. Looking in the bag, he saw it had several empty Twin Pet dog food cans and several empty d-Con mouse poison packs. After putting two and two together, he turned around and saw our dog licking the meat tray. He ordered him away, but some poisons are so toxic that even the residue can be lethal.
I don't know what the person who left out this poison was trying to accomplish. Trying to kill the coyotes spotted in the area? Or the stray Yorkie and a medium-sized tan dog we have seen hanging around at the top of the hill? Or the local raccoons, possums, foxes or skunks we have spotted on our daily walks. Since the trays were nearly empty, perhaps the person responsible accomplished this goal.
Let me share the collateral damage these lazy and thoughtless actions have wrought.
My dog was in agony from the toxins in his system. He was not a perfect dog. He made a habit of rolling in my newly planted flower beds. And in early spring he would walk behind me eating the sunflower seeds I had just hand-sown in the back field. And he often teased the cats. But he was a good dog. A stray we took into our home seven years ago, he was always eager to fulfill the only task my husband ever gave him: "Take care of the Lady." He was my protector; alerting me to strangers and sometimes the random squirrel. He moped when I had to be away, many times not eating until I returned. He worried when I became upset. He stayed by me when I was sick. He was, in the way dogs are, my best friend.
I'm not particularly comfortable opening my personal life to random strangers, but I want whoever did this to understand exactly what this has cost us.
Last spring I was laid off my job. Money has become very tight. We had a tiny bit of money set aside for emergencies. We assumed that since I no longer have any income, nor can I afford health insurance, that money might be used in case the chronic condition I suffer from becomes worse or if I were in a car wreck or some other unforeseen accident came our way.
Given that we could not bear to watch my best friend die in excruciating pain, we took him to the vet.
The $2,000 bill for his examination, testing and treatment will either wipe out much of our small emergency fund or we will have to borrow money and pay it back with interest. My husband is wracked with guilt thinking that he has let us down.
While it is too late for us, I hope by sharing our experiences that we can prevent the same pain and suffering from being visited on other local families who love their pets. Please don't kill family pets because you are too stingy, lazy or ignorant to take care of the problem in a socially responsible way.
It might be too much to hope that the perpetrator will own this mistake and do the right thing.
As for the local coyotes, last spring, the dog that was poisoned spotted one of them on our property and took it to task. While my dog took his licks, he gave as good as he got and we never saw the coyotes again. We are the last house on this road, so my dog was the neighborhood's first line of defense against the coyotes.
Along the way we lost our savings, my husband's peace of mind, our guardian and my best friend.
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