Waikiki resident’s rat trap warning after dog eats toxic pellets
A Waikiki resident has warned people walking their dogs to be be on the lookout for vandalised rodent traps at parks and ablution blocks after her pet ate a pellet of poison recently.
Marianne Day regularly walks her four-year-old golden labrador Poppy at Fantasy Park and along Waikiki Foreshore Park and said she first noticed the appearance of black rodent traps screwed to toilet blocks at both parks two weeks ago.
On further walks she noticed boxes had been vandalised, with lids pulled off some traps, others smashed and the poison pellets scattered next to the children’s play equipment at Fantasy Park.
Last Tuesday, Mrs Day said she found another empty box while walking Poppy and knew the bright blue pellets would be somewhere nearby, and on a return walk on Wednesday the worst happened.
“The next thing I knew (Poppy) was eating something blue next to the play equipment and I knew it was one of the pellets,” she said.
“I picked up what was left of the poison and took it and her to the vet. They told me it was a slow-release poison after looking it up but they kept Poppy in all day.”
After an anxious wait, Poppy was given the all-clear on the weekend, but Mrs Day said she worried other dog owners or children would encounter the poison and not be so lucky.
“I was half looking at Poppy and had I not been she would have finished the poison, but if another dog eats it and the owner doesn’t see it that dog will die a very horrible, slow, painful death and they’ll have no idea why it’s dying,” she said.
“Those parks are full of dogs all morning before children get there... I’ve tried to warn as many people as I can on Facebook but everyone needs to be aware of the traps.”
The City of Rockingham has a program for pest treatment scheduled for all infrastructure within its boundary, with a new pest contractor having recently placed rodent traps at the parks.
After being made aware of the issue, the City said on social media the contractor would ensure rodent traps would not be placed in “visible areas of high public traffic” in future.
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