On Monday morning, dear and always cheerful dog Laza and I went for a morning walk. We leave the long walk, which is so pleasing to me and him, for the afternoon. There is a well-known route for a long walk: along Jerneja Kopitar Street in Novi Sad, where we live, to the end, and then along the Šodroš dolma to the ramp, and back. Approximately, three kilometers. Ideally it would be five, say the doctors, but this is not so bad either.
LEE00726Photo: "Good Hope"
We only go to the end of the street, a few hundred meters. I lead him on a chain, and then at the end of the rope I let him go, so that he can come back on his own. He loves it. As soon as I took off the leash, it accepted some kind of small can, which I hadn't even seen before, because it was in the overgrown grass. I don't get to take it from him. He carries her home, and I follow him at a fast pace. He arrives, of course, before me. I take the can, which he previously licked, and throw it in the trash. Not even a minute or two has passed, Laza starts shaking and turns around. Duško and I quickly put him in the back seat of the car and drive to the nearest vet. He is drooling and shaking. I'm drooling too, my eyes are watery. It was immediately clear to me that something was very wrong.
We will arrive at the vet in two or three minutes. He raises his hands and tells us that we are not the first, that they bring dogs in a similar, gruesome state. While trying to make him vomit with hydrogen, and giving him two injections, he tells us that his chances of survival are minimal. I have to prepare you! He connects Laza to an IV, but not a single drop managed to enter his body. He was already dead.
He died in my arms, I held him upright so he could vomit. He didn't make it.
The veterinarian says that he has many experiences with rescuing poisoned dogs, but that recently the poisoners have improved. They use something that kills even very large dogs in about fifteen minutes. We take Laza, in a black bag, and put him in the car.
Police investigation
When I get home, I call the police. I take that can out of the trash can, carefully, with the bag in my hands, put it in another bag, and put it in the mailbox. I estimate that this is the safest place, so that cats or anyone else does not come into contact with her. I can't be sure that what was in the can was poison, maybe it was something else. But there is little chance that he ate something else without me seeing it.
I give a statement to the police, then the investigation team comes and takes the can.
We then go to the police station in Satellite with a black bag in the car. I give a statement to a professional and courteous inspector, who informs the prosecutor. The prosecutor orders (that term is used) an autopsy and toxicological analysis of Laza's body. The act qualifies as killing and abusing animals (Article 269 CC). We are waiting for the analysis, we hope it will be ready quickly, in a few days.
Three vets have already asked me, either directly or through mutual friends, to provide them with the autopsy results. To know what they are actually fighting against. There are known terrible poisons, such as creosane or something similar, but this could be something more severe.
Minefields of fierce poisons
The next day I hear that some other dogs on Šodros were poisoned. I have no power to verify the accuracy of the information. However, it has come to my attention that there have been cases similar to Lazin's in the past fifteen days. And that this place, at the end of our street, according to the dolma, is the common denominator for everyone. A friend forwards me the post of a woman whose dog also promptly died after also finding a small can at the end of our street.
Why didn't I hear about all that and why didn't I pay better attention, I ask myself, I blame myself. Maybe I'm not completely to blame and only I'm to blame, maybe we're all to blame because we keep quiet about things like this and turn our heads as if it doesn't concern us. From time to time, news about poisoned animals makes it to the media, but they always end up in some corner of their own.
Associations for the protection of animals try, draw attention, warn, but no one listens to them. And cities and villages are, it seems, minefields of poison. It's just a matter of when someone will step into the wrong place.
Consciousness
I also blame myself because I didn't write about this earlier, that is, I didn't pay more attention to this topic. It wasn't until what happened to my family member, the dog who shared the good and the bad with us for seven years, that I came to my senses. There is no excuse for that!
But still, let's let Laza's case be an occasion to think about everything carefully and do something. We owe it to all those wonderful beings who went in the most terrible torments, unequivocally and surely to Heaven, if such a thing exists.
First of all, let's try to influence the competent institutions to take the problem seriously. I mean the police, municipal police, prosecutor's office and veterinary inspections. If the poison is so strong that it kills a large dog in fifteen minutes, you don't need to be an expert to conclude that it is also extremely dangerous for people, especially children. So does a tragedy need to happen, for a child to die, in order for us to realize that we are surrounded by monsters who kill cats and dogs just for fun, to satisfy their who knows what kind of frustrations. And who are convinced that they will never be responsible for it. Let's let one of them end up in prison, as the law provides, to send a message that this is not allowed.
Animal protection associations do a lot, many of them barely surviving, but it is necessary to extend the platform to the media and institutions, and other organizations. A warning system for poisoned areas, so that can easily be devised. Media attention, quick reaction of the state, social networks... Well, would that be a big problem? It just takes a little will.
Finally, the question arises as to how someone, anyone, can come into possession of such terrible poisons! With such an ultra-fast mortality, they represent a general danger. I can't even imagine what some sick mind could do with it. And there is no shortage of such.
A lawyer friend warns me. There is another crime that can be linked to dangerous poisons intended for animals. It is Article 278 of the CC – causing general danger.
