Fear Grips Neighborhood After Poisoning of 9 Dogs

Kagel Canyon is the kind of neighborhood where people leave their doors unlocked. Set amid steep ravines of oak and pine trees, the homes here sit secluded from the urban East San Fernando Valley just a few miles down the hill. In this neighborhood, people have always let their children and dogs run free.

But last October, at a neighborhood party, two pet dogs went into convulsions and died within minutes. Since then, seven more dogs have perished the same way. All were poisoned and all belonged to families on the same block, El Merrie del Drive, which runs through the center of the neighborhood.

“We’re frightened,” said Melonie Huffman, who has five miniature Australian shepherds. “It’s like someone is stalking us.”

A necropsy on one of the latest victims, a Rottweiler that died last month, revealed traces of strychnine. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the poison was probably added to a piece of food and left for the dog to find. At least two other dogs died of strychnine poisoning, authorities said.

“We’re one of the last houses on the street with a dog that’s still alive,” said Claire Telford, who has a beagle--and three small children. “Obviously, somebody’s putting poison into food and throwing into our yards. It’s inevitable that a kid is going to pick up a piece of bread or hamburger with strychnine in it.”

Police say they have no leads in the case and don’t expect to make an arrest unless they catch the poisoner in the act.

“There’s not much that law enforcement can do in these cases,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Rod Johnson.

Meanwhile, rumors have percolated through the tiny canyon, where neighbors gossip over backyard fences or over beers at the Hideaway Bar. “It has to be someone in the area,” said Lou Brice. Talk has centered on a man whose family settled in the canyon generations ago.

“We all get along up here and have dinners together and parties--but not him,” Huffman said. “Maybe he just felt left out and wants to get back at us.”

The Sheriff’s Department questioned the man and found no evidence linking him to the poisonings, Johnson said.

The ambience in Kagel Canyon is strictly rural. Houses tend to be older, surrounded by low rock walls or chain-link fences. Some people keep horses. Telford has an aviary of cockatiels and lovebirds. Huffman raises peacocks.

“People live up there because they can have the freedom of letting their dogs run loose,” Johnson said.

But some people have become fed up with the free-running dogs, said a resident who asked not to be named. Untended pets knock over garbage cans and bark at visitors, she said.

Dogs still run free through most streets in the canyon, but not on El Merrie del Drive. Officials at the Castaic Animal Shelter have asked residents to check their yards for bits of food and to keep pets inside as much as possible.

Residents are keeping their children close at hand too. A red warning sign was tacked to the community message board at the canyon’s entrance. The last words on the warning were: “We’re determined to end the mystery.”

“Now we’re keeping an eye out,” Huffman said. “We’re hoping that whoever is doing the poisoning will get the hint and go away.”