Poisonings Feared in Dogs’ Deaths

Dog owners in a Huntington Beach neighborhood were in an uproar Monday after the apparent poisonings of two pets in adjacent backyards on the same day.

“People are in a state of shock,” said Steve Quinn, a pet owner and professional dog walker who lives near Lakeside and Arrow lanes, where the dogs died. “You couldn’t have picked a worse place for this to happen.”

On Sunday morning, Katarina Thomas, 39, said she got home to find her 3-year-old English springer spaniel, Molly, dead in the backyard. “She was dead and stiff, and my two other dogs were standing over her,” said Thomas, a sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department. “Molly was my baby. I feel like my heart’s been ripped out.”

Near Molly’s body, Thomas said, she found a piece of bologna with white cream on it. “Her tongue and mouth were swollen and blue,” Thomas said of her pet.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Gingrich, with whom Thomas shares a back fence, was just waking up. “I heard someone crying,” said Gingrich, 30, “but I didn’t know where it was coming from. I went downstairs, and both of my dogs were fine.”

After running errands, she returned home about 2:30 p.m., checked her dogs again. An hour later, she said, she found her year-old golden retriever, Lacy, dead by the back door.

“I believe she was poisoned,” said Gingrich, a registered nurse who had received notes as recently as Saturday from a neighbor complaining about the dog’s barking. “My dog was my child. This has totally devastated me.”

Police say they are investigating the deaths and will have necropsies performed.

“The two incidents probably are related,” spokesman Lt. Dan Johnson said, “but can I prove it? No.”

The bereaved dog owners, meanwhile, are posting leaflets warning pet owners and offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect.