Dog owners throughout Grand Cayman are keeping a closer eye on their pets after several dogs were poisoned, some fatally, this month.
Samples of the suspected toxin have been sent to overseas laboratories in an effort to identify what is being used to poison the pets, but the results are still pending. Last week, the police and the Department of Agriculture said they had received only one official report of poisoning, but the Cayman Compass has been made aware of at least 15 incidents.
Most of the cases have been in West Bay, but reports have also been emerging either via social media or in calls to the media, in Savannah, Breakers, West Bay Road, and in an area between Camana Bay and Britannia.
Island Veterinary Services, which has treated many of the poisoned dogs, has sent to overseas laboratories samples taken during necropsies of the animals, as well as a food sample collected by the owner of one dog who died as a result of eating what looked like hamburger meat on the side of the road in North West Point Road.
Jennie Boyers, of Island Vets, told the Compass on 17 Dec., “We are still waiting on results, they may take a while as they test for several different poisons.”
Symptoms of the poisonings include dizziness, staggering, blindness, confusion, tremors, unconsciousness and difficulty breathing. Anyone whose dogs are experiencing those symptoms are advised to bring their pet to the nearest veterinary clinic as soon as possible.
Joyce Follows of Island Veterinary Services said her clinic had treated 13 dogs since 9 Dec., only six of which had survived. She said two other veterinary clinics had dealt with similar cases.
Over the years in Cayman, there have been many reports of dogs being poisoned by the herbicide paraquat, which was banned locally in 2015. Follows said the symptoms seen in the most recent poisonings are different to the paraquat cases the vets had encountered previously.
Poisonings were reported on North West Point Road, Town Hall Road, Conch Point Road, and beside the Kaaboo site in West Bay, as well as in Savannah, Breakers, and near Camana Bay. The Humane Society at a fundraising trivia event last week also warning attendees that there had been a suspected case of poisoning along West Bay Road.
The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service said it had received just one formal report of a poisoning which it is investigating, but acknowledged that it was aware of the several other incidents that had been reported over social media.
“The RCIPS continues to monitor the situation in the district, as we seek to deter any criminal activity and offer advice to pet owners, alongside our colleagues at the Department of Agriculture,” the police said in a statement.
Brian Crichlow, assistant director of the DoA, in an email sent to the Compass on 14 Dec. said, “Although being aware of information in the press and on social media, to date the Department has only received one official report linked to a suspected poisoning,” adding that the DoA was investigating that report.
He said the DoA “has to date received no information from any source as to what the possible causative agent for the suspected poisonings might be”.
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