DUBAI // Pet owners have been warned that poisons may be being disguised in food scraps in public areas.
The dog charity K9 Friends said it was constantly receiving news of animals falling sick or dying after eating rat poison.
This week alone, two dogs and two cats were reported to have fallen sick after eating what appeared to be discarded bread scraps in the Springs and Meadows areas.
“We receive reports every week of dogs having eaten rat poison,” said Jackie Ratcliffe, chair of K9 Friends. “There have been numerous dogs dying from eating poison, and a lot more falling sick.”
She said there was one case in January when a dog died after eating marshmallows that had been laced with rat poison in Arabian Ranches.
“We would like to warn all dog owners to keep an eye on their pets and try to stop them from eating any food scraps they find on the ground,” she said.
Steve Day, 45, from the UK, who lives in Springs 12, saw his four-year-old dog Scoobie get sick after eating scraps of bread on Tuesday morning behind the Emaar development.
“He couldn’t seem to stand up, his legs kept giving way,” said Mr Day. “The bread was the only thing he ate that morning, so we thought he might have been poisoned. I went back there later and the bread was gone, but there was a dead bird near by, which may have eaten what was left.”
He took Scoobie to a vet, who was unable to find a reason for the dog’s weakness. The animal recovered fully by the end of the day.
The previous night, Anne, a friend of Mr Day and his wife Jane, had found a cat in distress by the side of the road in the same area.
“It couldn’t seem to stand up and I thought it had been in a road accident,” said Anne, from the UK, who declined to give her full name.
“I took it to the vet and they said it had been poisoned. We managed to find the owner and apparently the cat is recovering fully.”
Emaar did not comment on residents' fears that someone is maliciously trying to poison pets.
However, a spokesman said: “All pest-control measures in our communities are undertaken in line with the regulations and specifications by the concerned authorities.
“Emaar is committed to upholding the highest standards of safety and well-being of our residents.”
The developer has commented on previous occasions that it abides by Dubai Municipality’s ruling that any form of rat poison should be distributed only in tamper-proof boxes.
The issue follows similar complaints from residents in nearby Meadows 9 earlier this month. Residents there said dead fish had been appearing in their man-made lake and they feared that the fish could poison pets. Emaar, however, said the death of the fish was a seasonal occurrence.
mcroucher@thenational.ae
