Cat poisoner feared at work in village

Elaine Mitropoulos
Comox Valley Echo

Friday, April 17, 2009

A week after their beloved cat mysteriously fell ill, a Cumberland family is warning other pet owners that a malicious neighbour could be baiting animals with antifreeze-laced tuna.

Last week the Clarke family's 20-month-old black and white Tabby Cat, Safari, began to vomit uncontrollably.

While at first they chalked it off to hairballs, they decided to take the kitty to the vet for treatment and testing when the vomiting persisted.

"That night she couldn't get up," said Roberta Clarke. "She would try to put weight on her legs and they would just give out on her and she would cry so we knew something was really wrong."

When the family got the results back from the vet, they were shocked to learn Safari had high levels of toxicity in her blood.

"The vet said she had never seen levels that high in a young cat," Clarke said.

The vet concluded that Safari had either come into contact with ethylene glycol, the colourless, odourless, sweet-tasting chemical found in antifreeze, or had ingested an Easter Lily - a highly poisonous plant to cats.

"But Easter Lilies aren't in bloom, first of all," said Clarke. "And there's no Easter Lilies around our house or in our (Ulverston Avenue) neighbourhood."

Nevertheless, the family was forced to put Safari down on Good Friday when it appeared there was no hope for her recovery.

Clarke said she would never have suspected foul play, but a chat she had with a neighbour a month prior set off alarms.

The neighbour had warned her an area resident was baiting cats with anti-freeze contaminated tuna.

"I took note of it, but you can't have your eye on your cat 24 hours a day," Clarke said.

However, when Clarke learned Safari had been seen perching on the suspect neighbour's fence, she was convinced her cat was lured to the toxic tuna.

Clarke's daughter Kristi, 11, has been breaking out into tears ever since her cat was killed.

"This is really hard because this was her best friend," Clarke said, consoling her devastated daughter.

Asked what she would say to the person who may have baited her cat, Kristi said, "Stop trying to hurt animals. Just because he doesn't like pets he doesn't have to hurt other people's."

Clarke said she reported the incident to the RCMP and the SPCA, but wanted to spread the word to prevent anyone else's beloved pet from falling victim to the bait.

"We still love our neighbourhood but it's just made me more aware of speaking out and letting people know to be careful with their animals if there's someone in your neighbourhood potentially doing something like this," Clarke said.

"I would hate for some other little girl to lose their precious friend."

Comox Valley RCMP Const. Dennis Flint said poison was one of many ways malicious people in the area disposed of domestic animals they deemed pests.

In his experience, he said Valley cats and dogs have been trapped and drowned or taken out to the woods and killed.

"It's not widespread, but it does happen," he said. "There's a number of animals that are purposefully injured or killed and, I'm just speculating here, but it's done out of anger and frustration."

While the RCMP didn't condone violence against animals, Flint said there was nothing the force could do unless someone was caught in the act.

"For the most part we don't go out actively looking for it," he said. "And if it's cruelty to animals then we basically leave it to the SPCA."

emitropoulos@comoxvalleyecho.com

© Comox Valley Echo 2009

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