Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Grape Street dogs poisoned?
"I really couldn’t find out anything”
Channel 10 news featured the homemade signs.
On June 21, word started spreading through local social media that two dogs had become ill and one had died after (according to a post that originated on the South Bark Facebook page) “presumably ingesting/sniffing up some sort of poison (one vet thinks poisonous fertilizer) at Grape Street Dog Park.”
Bodhi animal hospital Facebook page
On June 28, the volunteer group Dog Owners of Grape Street (D.O.G.S.), held a meeting in which the recent poisoning accusations were discussed. Tyler Renner, a representative for Councilmember Chris Ward, confirmed to the group that the city does not spray any fertilizers or pesticides in the dog park.
The dog at the center of this story is “Porky,” a 6-year-old Yorkshire terrier that passed away four hours after visiting the park. By June 26, the Facebook page for Bodhi Animal Hospital had posted that three dogs had died, and was warning people who continued to visit the park to “supervise your kiddo closely and report any suspicious activity.
Jean DiCarlo Wagner, a volunteer coordinator for D.O.G.S. who has been following the story closely, revealed that Porky’s unfortunately “gruesome” death did have similarities to the death of a second dog that had also recently visited the park, with one major exception: “The second dog was liver cancer. It was the same gruesome death, because his liver exploded. So, internal bleeding, vomiting, diarrhea. So, it looked like it was the same thing.” The third dog is a bit of mystery. Wagner said she had heard about another dog, but that the symptoms were more akin to giardia, and that she was uncertain as to whether that dog had even died. “I don’t believe the third dog died,” she said. “I think it was sick, but many of the dogs, our dogs included, got giardia from drinking from the common bowls that are out there. That’s just usually a virus where they have a little bit of stomach ache or diarrhea if they’re young. If they’re very old, it can be really serious.”
Soon after word of the alleged poisonings began to spread, homemade signs were posted at the dog park warning patrons about the potential danger. As a result, Wagner says that daily attendance looks to be down “about 50 percent.” She has been visiting the dog park daily since the news broke and seems unconvinced of any potential dangers. “I feel that as part of the volunteer group that I would try to do what I could to figure out what had happened, and I really couldn’t find out anything,” she explained.
“Without anyone stepping forward — without any names, without any dogs, without any description — it just didn’t seem right to put out that something had to happen, even though people were posting signs. Personally, I think it’s been blown out of proportion.” Dick Miller, another member of D.O.G.S., has been a local at the dog park since the late 80s. He recalled witnessing dogs drop dead within the confines of the park at times over the years.
So was there ever a scare like this associated with any of those deaths? “No, but you have to take into consideration that there wasn’t social media back then either,” he said.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Grape Street dogs poisoned?
"I really couldn’t find out anything”
Grape Street dogs poisoned?
"I really couldn’t find out anything”
Channel 10 news featured the homemade signs.
On June 21, word started spreading through local social media that two dogs had become ill and one had died after (according to a post that originated on the South Bark Facebook page) “presumably ingesting/sniffing up some sort of poison (one vet thinks poisonous fertilizer) at Grape Street Dog Park.”
Bodhi animal hospital Facebook page
On June 28, the volunteer group Dog Owners of Grape Street (D.O.G.S.), held a meeting in which the recent poisoning accusations were discussed. Tyler Renner, a representative for Councilmember Chris Ward, confirmed to the group that the city does not spray any fertilizers or pesticides in the dog park.
The dog at the center of this story is “Porky,” a 6-year-old Yorkshire terrier that passed away four hours after visiting the park. By June 26, the Facebook page for Bodhi Animal Hospital had posted that three dogs had died, and was warning people who continued to visit the park to “supervise your kiddo closely and report any suspicious activity.
Jean DiCarlo Wagner, a volunteer coordinator for D.O.G.S. who has been following the story closely, revealed that Porky’s unfortunately “gruesome” death did have similarities to the death of a second dog that had also recently visited the park, with one major exception: “The second dog was liver cancer. It was the same gruesome death, because his liver exploded. So, internal bleeding, vomiting, diarrhea. So, it looked like it was the same thing.” The third dog is a bit of mystery. Wagner said she had heard about another dog, but that the symptoms were more akin to giardia, and that she was uncertain as to whether that dog had even died. “I don’t believe the third dog died,” she said. “I think it was sick, but many of the dogs, our dogs included, got giardia from drinking from the common bowls that are out there. That’s just usually a virus where they have a little bit of stomach ache or diarrhea if they’re young. If they’re very old, it can be really serious.”
Soon after word of the alleged poisonings began to spread, homemade signs were posted at the dog park warning patrons about the potential danger. As a result, Wagner says that daily attendance looks to be down “about 50 percent.” She has been visiting the dog park daily since the news broke and seems unconvinced of any potential dangers. “I feel that as part of the volunteer group that I would try to do what I could to figure out what had happened, and I really couldn’t find out anything,” she explained.
“Without anyone stepping forward — without any names, without any dogs, without any description — it just didn’t seem right to put out that something had to happen, even though people were posting signs. Personally, I think it’s been blown out of proportion.” Dick Miller, another member of D.O.G.S., has been a local at the dog park since the late 80s. He recalled witnessing dogs drop dead within the confines of the park at times over the years.
So was there ever a scare like this associated with any of those deaths? “No, but you have to take into consideration that there wasn’t social media back then either,” he said.
Comments