———————————————————————————————————————————————————-
There was a rash of dog poisonings in the same area this past summer and now it seems that someone is again terrifying the St. Paul, MN, dog-loving community.
Police are investigating, and warning dog owners to take precautions.
In two confirmed cases, rolls with rat poison baked into them were thrown into people’s yards.
If not for the quick eyes of their owners, neither Jet the Italian greyhound nor Lola the rat terrier would be alive. They were spotted eating the rolls and rushed to the emergency vet.
The dogs’ owners, neighbors, are banding together to help each other.
“I was pretty hysterical right off the bat, honestly,” Kelsey Jurek, Jet’s owner, told Minnesota CBS affiliate WCCO. “I was praying that it was an isolated incident.”
Alas, it wasn’t. Dan Piepkorn’s dog, Lola, was poisoned two days later.
“Sick how anybody’s heartless to do something like that,” Piepkorn said.
“It’s pretty obvious that there’s something baked into the biscuit,” Jurek noted. ‘The pellets are bright, bright, bright blue.”
———————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Fortunately for Jet, Jurek is a veterinary student at the University of Minnesota. She rushed him there, where he was given medication to make him vomit.
Afterwards, she went door to door to warn neighbors, including Piepkorn. Two days later, he saw Lola in his fenced-in yard eating the same kind of roll.
“I knew what it was right away so I started yelling at her to drop it,” he said.
Piepkorn rushed Lola to the vet. He still cannot believe it.
“She never hurt anybody,” he said.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————-
St. Paul Police are investigating, and urging dog owners to take precautions.
“I suggest for the time being, when you let your dog out in the yard, maybe you make a lap in the yard first,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster. “Make sure there’s nothing foreign out there.”
Jurek cannot believe that even if the person who did this is caught, the most serious charge is a gross misdemeanor.
“The fact that it’s really kind of just a slap on the wrist is sickening in itself,” she said.
Both dogs are expected to fully recover.
Ernster says anyone with concerns should also reach out to St. Paul Animal Control at 651-266-1100.
