Annandale: Hunt for dog poisoner after baited meat found

An urgent warning has been issued over fears a person is leaving baited meat at popular dog walking spots in the inner west.

Residents in Sydney’s inner west believe a heartless neighbour is trying to kill their pooches and are calling on the culprit to hand themselves in before another pup is attacked.

Annandale dog owners are currently on the lookout for the offender who has reportedly been leaving meat laced with poison near homes in recent weeks.

One dog is lucky to be alive after taking the bait earlier this month while other residents have reported seeing the poisoned mince around their properties.

Poisoned meat found by Balmain Veterinary Hospital after a dog was deliberately poisoned in Annandale

Thankfully no pups have died.

But despite calls to police, the local council and would-be suburban detectives pouring over hours of CCTV no one has yet been identified.

The spate of poisonings came to a head earlier this month when one dog survived a poisoning attack after being treated at Balmain Veterinary Hospital.

That pooch was poisoned in a nearby street to the location of the current spate of attacks.

“Unfortunately we can confirm that one of our patients presented to us this morning after being deliberately poisoned,” the vet said at the time.

“Clearly it is a malicious act and the owners of the dog will follow this up with the police.

“Thankfully the patient appears to be well and did not eat much of the product and the owners got them in quickly.”

Max, pictured, was one of the pooches targeted in Annandale.

About a week later Annadale resident Andrew Parker’s puppy Max was one of a number of dogs in his street who almost fell to the same fate.

Mr Parker said the bait he found was obviously left for Max, who is just four months old, and was laced with poison.

He managed to stop Max just in time before he wolfed down the poisoned mince.

“We’re in a laneway and it was probably only a few metres from our front door and nearby our neighbour’s door,” he said.

“It was just a chunk of raw mince which looks really suspicious.

The bait found by Mr Parker.

Annandale resident Andrew Parker's dog Max and the poison-laced meat he found near his home earlier this month.

“You don’t think it’s bait but because the dog lunged at it saying ‘great I’m getting a second breakfast’ we looked at it closer.”

Mr Parker said there was “no way it fell out of a Woollies bag” as part of someone’s groceries and was clearly stuffed with another white substance.

“(Max) barks a little bit as new puppies do but its minuscule in the grand scheme of things,” he said.

“It’s such extreme and criminal behaviour that even if you’ve got a legit reason to be upset about a dog’s barking it’s a horrible death for them because it takes 24 hours to die.

“It’s just horribly dangerous and irresponsible.”

Mr Parker and his neighbours have poured over CCTV footage but they are yet to catch a person physically placing the laced meat near their homes.

Inner West Council has been approached for comment.

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