SEQUIM — An animal sanctuary four counties away is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the person or people Cliff Robinson believes tried to poison his pets.
Robinson, who lives off Woodcock Road near Cedars at Dungeness golf course, took Howie, a black Labrador cross, and Moose, an English mastiff, to Sequim Animal Hospital last week after the pair began showing symptoms of poisoning.
Veterinarian Heather Short, after admitting the dogs, said they were suffering from acute kidney failure, though she didn’t speculate about the cause.
Robinson, however, suspected the white pills he had found in their vomit.
He and Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputy Tracey Kellas believe those pills were ibuprofen, a substance that’s highly toxic to canines.
Kellas put Robinson in touch with Pasado’s Safe Haven, a sanctuary with a staff of 10 in Snohomish County that rescues abused pets and investigates animal cruelty incidents.
“We’re advocates for animals,” from dogs and cats to horses and egg-farm chickens, Pasado’s humane investigator, Kim Koon, said Monday.
Since Pasado’s deals with cases of cruelty, some of which involve pet or livestock owners who want their animals back, Koon didn’t give the sanctuary’s location.
“It sounds to me like it’s kids” who may have slipped Howie and Moose treats with ibuprofen in them, Koon said.
But trying to poison a dog this way is a felony, she added.
Koon said she sees cases like this all over Washington.
“People are poisoning dogs in dog parks and other public parks,” she said.
Robinson, for his part, is worried that other dogs in his neighborhood could become victims.
He’s just had a second fence built so Moose and Howie can no longer run up to the original fence facing the street, and passers-by and dogs can no longer get close to each other.
Both Howie, 100 pounds of energy, and Moose, a 200-pounder who’s the gentler one, spent several days at Sequim Animal Hospital, receiving intravenous fluids.
Howie was released last Wednesday, but the mastiff ran a fever and stayed till Thursday.
“He was still quite a sick puppy,” Robinson said, “but by Saturday he was pretty much in motion again.”
Anyone with information about the suspected poisoning attempts is urged to phone the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department at 360-417-2459.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
