Dubai: Following a raft of dog-poisoning warnings posted on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter recently, the civic body has urged residents not to assume that their pet dogs and cats are being poisoned as that has yet to be confirmed.
“In the posts, it clearly states that the poison is believed to be Strychnine or Metaldehyde, and the key word here is ‘believed to be’ because there has not been any autopsy to confirm this,” said Elmahi Gubran, public health pest studies specialist at Dubai Municipality.
A number of pet dogs and cats have reportedly been poisoned in the Al Qudra area near Arabian Ranches in the last three weeks. Residents have taken to Twitter and Facebook warning pet owners to be vigilant when walking their dogs in the area.
Banned pesticide
Speaking to Gulf News, Gubran emphasised that Strychnine is a pesticide that has been banned by the Ministry of Environment and Water, while Metaldehyde is a restricted molluscicide — not pesticide — that is used against slugs, snails and other gastropod pests. It is not an acute poison and if ingested accidentally by pets, it would take at least four to seven days to become fatal.
“We are not using any of these chemicals and if the community owners are using them, they would need a permit from Dubai Municipality to do so, as restricted pesticides and chemicals can only be used with our approval,” said Gubran.
“We are aware of these Facebook warning messages but can only launch an investigation if we receive a formal complaint,” he said.
R.S, a resident of Motor City, took her two-year-old Golden Retriever Rusty for a walk along the cycling tracks of Al Qudra on October 25, when it died of poisoning. “My husband and I went out for a walk on Friday morning and I never imagined that we’d go home without Rusty. He was our baby, and we took care of him since he was born. He was perfectly healthy and was doing well, but by the afternoon he had foam in the mouth, high temperature, seizures. By 5pm that day he was already dead,” she said.
R.S. said that she took her 40 kilogram dog for a walk on a road that was only 200 metres away from the main road, and while they were walking, Rusty had picked up a bone and a piece of bread from the ground.
