SPOKANE-- Spokane Animal Control is investigating another possible dog poisoning on the South Hill.
SpokAnimal says a dog died late Tuesday after eating something in a backyard. That dog’s veterinarian says all signs point to a strychnine poisoning.
Animal investigators are still waiting for test results to come back from the bet school at Washington State University. Until then, they cannot speculate on any connection to the string of dog poisonings late last month.
For the most recent victim, the loss of her dog was sudden and shocking. Peggy Parker calls her lost just devastating. She called her dogs "furry babies" and says Murphy was her prized baby. Murphy was a show dog that just turned 5. She says Murphy had retired but was still a beautiful dog.
Tuesday, without warning, Murphy died. Parker says she came in to answer the telephone and when she turned around she saw Murphy shaking. Parker rushed Murphy to the vet’s office but it was too late. Parker says it is just senseless and she is having trouble wrapping her mind around it, because it just happened so fast. There is nothing toxic in Parker’s backyard, or anywhere else, and she is a professor in natural sciences and cooks her own organic food for the dogs. That, combined with the symptoms leads Parker, the vet, and SpokAnimal to think Murphy was poisoned.
She calls what’s been happening on the South Hill dog serial killing. While investigators do their work, Parker is trying to grapple with the loss. Parker says it’s like losing a child. Spokanimal should get the result from WSU on Thursday.
There is still a $2,500 reward from the humane society of the United States for any information on these poisonings.
