Children find their puppies dead after suspected poisoning

A Savannah family was left devastated Friday after discovering their four puppies dead in the yard, victims of an apparent poisoning attack.

The bodies of the three-month-old pups – Bravo, Coco, Moca and Zayaita – were discovered by the family’s 12-year-old son.

Julio and Osiris Ramos say they were stunned that the dogs could be killed in their fenced-in yard.

“My husband fed them this morning and we went to work. My son called me, crying, around 11am, saying he found one of the puppies dead,” said Osiris.

“When he started looking for the rest he found three more, all over the yard.”

It is the second time the family has had a pet poisoned. The last time was in 2014, when other animals in the neighbourhood were also targeted.

Julio said he had raised the height of the perimeter wall in the yard to keep the animals safe.

“Even that doesn’t stop these heartless individuals,” he said.

“Suppose a child picks something up. What would have happened then?”

The Ramoses believe that someone threw food laced with poison over the fence.

1 of 3

Vets will carry out tests on the bodies to be sure, but the likelihood of all four animals dying from natural causes at the same time, with access to food and water in a shaded yard, is slim.

The four pups were from a litter of seven, from the families of two adult dogs. They had all been vaccinated and dewormed and some were committed to be re-homed with new owners.

The other dogs had to be bathed and taken to the vets for check-ups.

‘Devastated’

“My children were devastated that someone killed their puppies. We all love animals and it is so scary that someone could come and do this to them in our own yard. They don’t have the right to do that,” Osiris said, adding that she was afraid that one of her children, aged 12, 14, 15 and 19, could have been hurt.

“The younger children are always out in the yard playing. They could easily have picked something up.”

Julio said he wanted other dog owners and everyone in the Savannah area to be on alert.

“This is devastating for the whole family. We have lost a dog before because of poisoning. We have some heartless individuals out there. I don’t want this to happen to anybody else.”

The police were called but had not attended the scene as of Friday afternoon. Neither did police respond to emailed questions from the Compass Friday afternoon.

The Department of Agriculture, which has responsibility for animal welfare and control, indicated it would respond to Compass questions on the matter and to further queries about investigations into three emaciated dogs rescued last month.

Dog poisonings have been a shockingly common feature of life in Cayman in the recent past. The pesticide Paraquat was banned in 2015 following a spate of attacks on dogs, some of them linked to vigilante efforts to control stray animals considered a nuisance in certain neighbourhoods.

The number of incidents decreased after the ban and these killings are the first reported in some time. In this case, the dogs were pets, targeted in the fenced-in yard of a family home.