Family distress as two life-support companion dogs after alleged poisoning

Outrage is mounting in the small community of Cust in North Canterbury after a resident claimed that his two dogs were poisoned by another local, leaving both pets on life support.

After his family’s two beloved dogs went chasing rabbits on Friday night, a neighbor called Brooke Wallis and said they could hear the pets “howling” from local property.

Driving to the property with his family, they whistled for the two small dogs to call them.

They didn’t rush back to their owners, but Wallis could hear them howling, he said on Facebook.

“My husband decided to drive to the culprits’ house to verify, they did not appear to be home,” Wallis wrote.

“He found our dogs in a holding pen at his home, with his legs tied tightly with a tying line upside down. My husband released them and took them home.”

But one of the two, Bonno, was wrong: he couldn’t walk or move properly.

The family rushed to the vet, who prescribed anti-inflammatory medications for Bonno.

“We looked after Bonno all night in our bed, while he screamed in pain,” she wrote.

“It was heartbreaking.”

But when the family got home, Wallis said they found the “culprit” standing in their driveway, saying they were “looking for a dog.”

The next morning, one of the Wallis boys found one of the dogs eating balls of minced meat that seemed to be sprinkled with powder and tablets.

“I ran out to see and collected all the remaining evidence. On the minced meat, there was an aluminum foil cut from the drug with the letters” PHEN. “

“I called the vet right away and they suspected it could be” phenobarbitone, “which is used to treat humans and animals with epilepsy. In high doses, it is fatal.”

Within 30 minutes, Clyde, who previously seemed uninjured, though traumatized by the terrible experience of the previous night, was disoriented and struggling to walk.

“I took the two children to the vet, they ran blood and started treatment right away,” Wallis wrote.

“The blood tests confirmed a phenobarbitone overdose. They had consumed so much that the tests were out of scale. Both children were critically ill and life-supporting.”

That night, Clyde died of the overdose.

The other dog in the family, Bonno, remains in critical condition. If he survives, he faces permanent liver damage.

“We are absolutely devastated,” Willis wrote.

“Our daughters are 14 and 7 years old, and they have spent their weekend sobbing and afraid that someone could come to our home and hurt our family in this way.”

Police received two reports regarding animal welfare crimes against dogs in Cust on May 1 and 2, a police spokeswoman said.

“Investigations are ongoing, however, no arrests or charges have been made at this stage.”

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