Potential dog poisoning in Warwick
By Andrea Medeiros
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WARWICK, R.I. – Two more families in Warwick came forward over the weekend, worried their dogs were poisoned. That makes eight dogs that became mysteriously sick, four of them died.
All of them are from the same neighborhood, and their owners have something in common, a confrontation with one neighbor.
Princess is a Labrador retriever with a lot of spunk, but recently her owners said she lost that energy on a trip to Maine.
“The dog got violently sick as we got there,” said Paul Bamford, “She had diarrhea and she was very sick and she had eaten something out here the day before.”
The Bamford's said Princess hasn't been the same since she ate something near their home in the Governor Francis Farms neighborhood in Warwick.
This typically wouldn't be alarming, but with an investigation into dog poisoning going on there the family's on high alert.
“I was afraid,” said Gail Bamford, “We try to keep our dog in the yard, but every once in awhile she wanders and we have to go get her, and I was afraid something might happen to her.”
Police and the Rhode Island SPCA said the Bamford's have reason to worry. Eight dogs have potentially been poisoned in their neighborhood. Four of them died.
“All the individuals have had otherwise healthy dogs of various breeds, various ages that had a sudden onset of some type of sickness, paralysis,” said Animal Cruelty Officer Joseph Warzycha.
All of the families have had some sort of confrontation with the same neighbor, many of them got a threatening letter from an anonymous source, saying he would provide “treats” for their dogs that would make them sick. That's particularly concerning to the Bamford's.
“I noticed that on the ground leading into this farm area, there's kinds of like dog food and cereal and things like that on the ground that somebody has been throwing out,” said Gail.
This has been going on for eight years, but police said people are just now coming forward. Even if investigators make an arrest, a criminal case will be tough to prove. There's no real concrete evidence, and the signature on the anonymous letters doesn't match the person of interest.
