More than 25 dogs were poisoned in the Spaar-O-Rama area this past weekend.

News of this started streaming in as early as Thursday morning. Steelburger/ Lydenburg News received several reports on its WhatsApp groups which, when calculated, resulted in 25 dogs that had died on account of contaminated food being thrown into residents’ yards.

The newspaper contacted Capt Alfred Moela, Lydenburg SAPS’ spokesperson concerning this. Moela immediately reported the incidents to the station and arranged extra patrolling of the area.

“The information was followed up and additional patrols in the targeted area were arranged. Police were also placed on high alert for possible break-ins associated with this,” he said.

Moela said on Tuesday that on the account of the supplementary patrols, no house break-ins in this area had been reported over the long weekend.

“This is a clear example of how the SAPS and residents should work together to combat crime. We always urge locals to report such matters. Partnership is key,” he said.

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The poison used for the contamination of (mostly) meat was indicated as Temic, also known as Two-Step. A mere five grams of this pesticide is enough to kill several dogs.  

Two-Step is an insecticide that is easily purchased and highly toxic. Other poisons are occasionally used, but this is the most prevalent. It looks like small black granules, and if squashed, has a white colour on the inside.

The poison is hidden in food and thrown into yards with dogs that may alert their owners of the possible break-in.

Canines that are poisoned become extremely ill quite quickly, presenting with symptoms such as weakness, muscle tremors, vomiting, salivating, watery diarrhoea, as well as tiny, pinpoint-sized pupils and seizures.

There is a limited time frame – about 45 minutes to be exact – to get your pet the help it needs to survive. If you suspect that your dog has been poisoned, try to induce vomiting.

To reduce the amount of poison it has been exposed to, it is critical to make it throw up anything that might be left in the stomach as soon as possible.

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Your vet can recommend ways to do this in your home environment already, such as giving small handful of washing powder to eat.

According to local veterinarians, the best chance of survival remains to get your pet to your local vet as soon as possible where medicine can be administered to act as antagonists to the poison (such as Atropine).