The fast-spreading rumour of a poisoned dog earlier this week has fostered fear among residents and damaged Merritt's reputation whether it is true or not, according to City of Merritt officials.

"If this is malicious, whoever did it did a good job," says Bob Davis, the municipal bylaw services officer.

"This story…has impacted the community to a great extent. At what point do we call the dog park completely safe now?"

A news story on Q101 radio first broadcast on Monday warned locals that rat poison left at the City of Merritt dog park near the public works yard had killed a dog that ate it.

In the broadcast, Angel's Animal Rescue president Judanna Dawn-Caros said there had been reports that a dog died after consuming rat poison.

Radio NL and CFJC-TV in Kamloops later reported on the rumour as well. A woman who called the News said her friend was the person whose dog had died but refused to leave her friend's name.

Dawn-Caros told the News in an interview Tuesday that she first received reports about a dead dog on Monday morning. Those reports mentioned rat poison at the dog park and on Morrisey Street in Collettville.

Earlier accounts, which stated the dog was dead, conflicted with some later ones, which said the dog was only sick and may recover, she added.

Dawn-Caros said she was trying to find more information and the affected dog and owner so she could confirm the reports.

"I'm still trying to collect more details myself."

Despite the lack of specifics, she warned local dog owners to make sure their pets do not sniff or eat anything other than what the owners themselves gave them.

Both the Merritt RCMP and the City of Merritt say that neither has found evidence that a dog was poisoned.

Merritt RCMP Const. Tracy Dunsmore says no one has contacted the police about a dead or sick dog.

"It's all hearsay. Nobody knows whose dog this is."

Dunsmore says anyone with concrete information should call the RCMP.
"We need to find out whose dog it was and what the situation was, 'cause we don't know."

Davis says that he has checked the dog park several times and found no rat poison. In addition, neither veterinarian in town was aware of any poisoning, he says.

Davis says that while looking for a specific dog owner, he found many locals who had heard about the possible poisoning but only through the radio or anecdotally from friends. None could offer specific details about whose dog died, what type of dog died, or how the cause of death was determined.

"Everywhere I went, it was a room full of smoke and the smoke was not clearing for me.

"Where was this dog? Where was this owner? How was the toxicology determined, and who was the vet who looked at the dog?"

Any "normal person" would have contacted the police and a veterinarian if their dog appeared to be poisoned, he adds.

"If someone phoned me, I would call the police immediately because it's a Criminal Code offence. At the very least, it would be mischief."

Davis says that the rumour of a poisoned dog appears to be just that but adds that proof may still surface later.

"Just because I don't find it doesn't mean it wasn't there.

"I am still leaving an opportunity for a larger truth to come in."

Despite the lack of evidence, the damage is done, he says.

"It cast a huge shadow on our dog park that's going to take a long time to fix."

City of Merritt chief administrative officer Matt Noble agrees. He says the poisoned-dog story has scared residents away from the dog park and created fear and distrust among neighbours.

"It's unfair to the citizens of Merritt."

He describes Davis's search for the poisoned dog as a "wild goose chase" that yielded nothing.

"We've spent a fair amount of time about it, and we're really not very happy about how this has been handled by the so-called concerned groups or the media."

Noble criticizes Angel's Animal Rescue and Q101 for not verifying the story before reporting it to the public. He says if there was a problem, it should have been reported to the RCMP and City of Merritt first.

"Judanna has lost some credibility in the community because of this, frankly.

"A bunch of people overreacted without checking all the facts."

The City of Merrit's dog park, a fenced off area located behind the city's recycling depot in Main Street, opened in the fall of 2009.