GILROY
– Ronan Avenue animal lover Dawn Appelman says an unknown local
resident who was poisoning local cats has now targeted her pet
dog.
GILROY – Ronan Avenue animal lover Dawn Appelman says an unknown local resident who was poisoning local cats has now targeted her pet dog.
Mysterious cat deaths on Ronan Avenue – common a few months ago – had all but stopped, but on May 15, Appelman found Bear, her 5-year-old wirehaired terrier, dead in her yard.
“Now they’re killing my pets,” said Appelman, who has been vocal in her belief that the series of cat deaths were the work of a person with a death wish for animals.
“He doesn’t go out of the yard,” she said of Bear. “They had to throw some food with poison in our yard. … He was fine before.”
Appelman said she last heard Bear barking around 3 a.m. Saturday. She found him dead at about 11 a.m.
Appelman is having a postmortem examination of the dog done at her own expense but had not heard results by Monday.
City police Sgt. Noel Provost said officers will wait for the results of this examination before deciding on a course of action. Appelman has been critical of police reluctance to launch an investigation into the cat deaths.
The cat deaths stopped around the time of a Feb. 11 newspaper article on the phenomenon, according to Appelman and Provost. Recently, Appelman said, she has found two more stray cats dead in the neighborhood.
“We have our animals all on lockdown,” Appelman said. “It’s pretty bad when you have to lock up your pets at night.”
Appelman’s other dog – Bear’s sister, Chloe – is taking Bear’s loss badly, she said. Two days after Bear’s death, Appelman said, Chloe started having seizures. A veterinarian reportedly said these were from anxiety.
“They have her on medication for separation anxiety,” Appelman said. “She was getting so anxious and upset. … She was going around looking for Bear, whining.”
Staff at Orchard Veterinary Hospital, where Appelman takes Chloe, confirmed that they can prescribe medication for separation anxiety on dogs. They declined to answer questions about Chloe’s case, however, citing patient confidentiality.
Peter Crowley covers public safety for The Dispatch. You can reach him at pc******@************ch.com or 847-7216.
