By Jules Suzdaltsev
It is no secret that San Franciscans go crazy for dogs, but in the past couple of years it seems that dogs have driven some heinous people crazy, at least enough to try and hurt our furry best friends. Yesterday, a Reddit user posted about finding eight pounds of chopped up onions, which are very toxic to canines, in a popular spot for dog walkers around Fort Funston, which she informed the park ranger of immediately, and cleaned up herself.
But when we contacted Animal Control, they told us they had just received a call from the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), an animal hospital in SF, who notified them that someone had just taken their dog to the hospital as a result of eating an unidentified poison in a park. The SPCA informed us that, in fact, poisoned meatballs have been found in parks around San Francisco again within the past few days, but could not confirm which parks they had been found in. They warned, “We just want people to be on the lookout to make sure your pets don’t eat anything unknown.”
For the last two years, SF has been plagued by occasional poison filled meatballs scattered around the city for dogs to eat. Last year in July, meatballs filled with the strychnine were found in six neighborhoods around SF, including Twin Peaks, Diamond Heights, Lower Heights, Cole Valley, Hayes Valley, and Bernal Heights. A seven-year-old dachshund named Oskar ate one of the poisoned treats and died, prompting flyers and warnings around the city, along with a $2,000 reward by the by the Animal Legal Defense Fund and VegNews Magazine.
In February of this year, the reward was raised to $25,000 after more meatballs were found, and in May the bizarre poisoning attempts happened again, although this time they arrived with the addition of a candle, and $1.50 in quarters on a plate. Sadly, the culprit(s) have yet to be caught, nor has their motive been established, but the amount of effort involved in hurting animals was unsettling to say the least.
Thankfully the mounds of onions recently planted have been cleaned up, along with at least some of the tainted meatballs. It could also be that the onions were dumped unknowingly, as most people don’t seem to be aware of the risks that certain foods pose to dogs, including avocados, dough, grapes, some nuts, garlic, onions, and of course chocolate. When not filled with poison, it does take a significant amount of these foods to actually kill a dog, more likely making them very sick and possibly necessitating a visit to the vet, but that doesn’t excuse whatever troublemaker or litterer is putting our pets in danger.
Clearly there are at least a few maniacs in this city intent on making us feel unsafe, and that’s not right, no matter how loud our pups are barking or how much poop there is on the street. So watch what your pets eat when you’re out walking, you never know if it might be harmful.
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