Burglar Escapes With Cyanide Used to Kill Cats

An Oxnard man who told police that he lays out poison for stray cats reported this week that a burglar who took his television set also stole his potassium cyanide.

Police fear that the thief might mistake the deadly chemical for cocaine.

“It’s extremely toxic,” police Lt. Robert Kelley said, adding that the white crystalline chemical resembles the illegal drug.

Kelley said a resident of the 3000 block of South J Street discovered the burglary when he returned home about 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Along with the TV and a vacuum cleaner, the thief took about two-thirds of an ounce of the poison. The cyanide, which had been on a table in the living room, was in a sandwich-size plastic bag similar to the kind that cocaine is sometimes sold in, Kelley said.

It was unclear how the resident got the potassium cyanide, which--according to the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, a physicians reference--is so deadly that a tiny amount can kill in as little as 60 seconds.

Potassium cyanide prevents the body’s cells from absorbing oxygen. Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, rapid ineffective breathing, coma, convulsions and death.

A quarter gram, or 1/72 of the amount stolen, is considered lethal, according to the “material safety data sheet” provided when the chemical is sold. Companies that sell the product, which among other things is used to extract gold from ore, must keep strict records on who is purchasing it and why.

Anyone who suspects that he might have the poison can turn it over to police or firefighters on a no-questions-asked basis, Kelley said.

Police would not identify the victim, but he was located through other residents of the south Oxnard neighborhood. The man, who appeared to be in his 30s, said his lawyer had advised him not to discuss the matter.

Kelley said the man told police that he used the cyanide to poison stray cats that wandered onto his property.

“Of course, he was strongly counseled about that practice,” Kelley said, adding that laying out poison is illegal and dangerous to children. People bothered by stray cats should call animal control authorities, he said.

Kelley said the resident, who has no children, is cooperating with police.

“He brought it to our attention out of concern for public safety,” Kelley said, adding that the man will not be prosecuted.

“For one thing,” Kelley said, “the evidence was stolen.”