Dog Dies, Owners Sick From Poisoned Bird Seed In Cobble Hill
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Residents in one Brooklyn neighborhood are alarmed as their pets get sick -- and die -- from poisoned bird seed found scattered on the streets.
Domingo Reyes' dog Angel died suddenly several months ago.
"I woke up in the morning and he was dead," Reyes said.
Following a normal walk outside back in October, Angel refused to eat and started throwing up. Angel eventually became lethargic, and died.
"Most of the neighbors whom I've known for years knew the dog's name, but didn't know my name," Reyes said, "Everybody knew Angel."
Jennifer Lastra, one of Reyes' neighbors, was walking her dog just up the block when she found bird seed mixed with rat poison scattered all over the sidewalk.
"As I looked closer, I saw teal, round pellets in the bird seed and because we already had several incidents on this block, I started to think this was very odd," Lastra said.
Lastra had already found the pellets several times. Her husband, Thomas,took a sample to a local vet, and it was identified as poison.
Her dog Salty walked through the pellets, and ended up getting sick as well, but survived. Lastra thinks she also accidently ingested some poison from traces on her dog's leash, causing her to become violently ill.
"My mouth just exploded in blood, the blood vessels in my tongue exploded," Lastra said. "I still have one of the sores."
Lastra is convinced this is no accident.
"It seems like someone is purposefully doing this," Lastra said. "Down the block it was very, very systematic."
Reyes said he also sees a pattern. Angel is the 3rd dog in the last three years on his Butler Street block to die suddenly.
"Somebody is poisoning all the animals, not just the dogs," Reyes said. "They're poisoning all the animals."
