KAPA‘A — On Feb. 25 a dog died in a Kapahi neighborhood. On July 15, another dog who lived across the street died. The dogs’ owners suspect they both were poisoned. “Somebody killed my dog, and now, it has happened
KAPA‘A — On Feb. 25 a dog died in a Kapahi neighborhood. On July 15, another dog who lived across the street died. The dogs’ owners suspect they both were poisoned.
“Somebody killed my dog, and now, it has happened again,” Grace Yatsko, an eighth-grade student at Kapa‘a Middle School, wrote in a letter to The Garden Island. “On Feb. 25, my dog Petunia had gotten very sick with stomach pains and paralysis in her legs. She passed away the next day.”
Jack Yatsko, Grace’s father, said that a veterinarian said Petunia had been poisoned with Wafarin rat poison. That diagnosis was based on symptoms of internal spinal bleeding.
Grace’s mother said Petunia had gone running with Jack, but later was not acting normal. The dog wasn’t sleeping and kept whining.
“Going through an animal loss is a terrible thing and I felt deeply depressed, angry, painful and very lonely,” Grace wrote. “I am 12 years old and Petunia was one of my best friends. I have no idea how my dog could have gotten poisoned because we do not have poison in our home.”
Grace kept her feelings to herself, until July 15 when her neighbor’s dog, Tika, suffered a similar fate.
“This was heartbreaking,” said Tika’s owner, Maureen Tabura. “We’re responsible owners. We kept Tika in the yard, and took her walking and picking up after her. She was poisoned inside our own property.”
Grace said someone killed Tika with rat poison.
“Tika lived in their garage, so someone went on their property and murdered their dog,” she wrote.
Jack said when Tika was taken to the veterinarian, the diagnosis was that the rat poison ingested by Tika was a different type than the type which killed Petunia, based on the symptoms.
“Tika was losing weight and brought in to the vet on Friday,” Jack said. “She stayed the weekend and was in a coma by Sunday.”
A state Department of Health Vector Control worker said the department does not do any rat control programs due to budget cutbacks. But the worker lives on the street, and said he was not aware of any problems with rodents in the neighborhood.
He added there could be a problem due to a source of water being available and nearby vegetation which could offer habitat for rats, but he was not aware of any problems.
“Tika was such a great dog with really special eyes,” Grace wrote to The Garden Island. “She reminded me of Petunia in a lot of ways, including the breed of the dog and looks. She was years older than Petunia, but they got along well.”
Since Tika’s passing, Maureen said their family erected a sign in their yard, advising walkers of the poisonings.
“What if a child ingests the rat poison? There are a lot of neighbors who just let their dogs roam freely, too,” Maureen said. “People have noticed the sign and commented on it.”
Jack said the idea is to let people be aware of the poisonings so their pets or children do not become victims.
“The feeling of loss is unbearable so my neighbors and my family are trying to protect animals along our street from getting poisoned like ours did,” Grace wrote. “If you have any pets and live, or walk your dogs on Makaloa Street in Kapa‘a, then watch out because your pets could be next.”
