Meatballs found in dog-walking area in S.F. being tested for poison

Meatballs tainted with pills have been found in San Francisco for the second time in less than three months near where people walk their dogs, prompting fears that someone is trying to poison pets.

San Francisco police told KTVU-TV that the meatballs, which were stuffed with pills, will be tested to determine if they were poisonous.

“I think it’s sick, just horrible,” Gail Secchia told the station. “I’ve been walking my dogs here for 30 years.”

A dog walker discovered the meatballs on a paper plate in a neighborhood with walking paths, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The discovery comes after dozens of similarly tainted meatballs were found hidden in bushes and stairwells in February in another San Francisco neighborhood. Those meatballs prompted animal control officials to warn residents to keep their pets indoors and to keep a lookout for the bait.

The warning came more than six months after a dachshund named Oskar died after eating meatballs laced with strychnine -- a colorless, highly-toxic crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide -- KPIX-TV reported. Tainted meatballs also sickened another dog.