By Mitchell Clarke
A young Pakenham woman is distraught and at a complete loss as to why her one-year-old kelpie has been poisoned three times in a matter of months.
Taysia Romeril, 20, doesn’t understand why Arno is being targeted but is fed up and ready to move houses to ensure it doesn’t occur again.
“My lab does bark sometimes but it’s not excessive and it’s not at night, it’s just if he is playing, it’s only for a few minutes a day,” she said.
Unfortunately Arno’s encounters with the poison aren’t uncommon in the area with an old neighbour’s dog allegedly being killed after a poisoned tennis ball was thrown over the fence.
“When we first moved in to our house, the neighbours on the corner used to yell abusive things when my lab would bark once,” Ms Romeril said.
“An old neighbour also used to receive abusive messages when their dog would bark.
“That dog ended up dying due to a poisoned tennis ball being thrown over the fence.”
The Gazette was contacted by the family whose dog died from the poisoning.
Sally Lubeck said their eight-year-old kelpie x Oscar had to be put down after his symptoms got worse.
“It’s baffling it happened to us and now to the people who live next door to where we used to,” Ms Lubeck said.
“Something has to be done, it’s not fair that this is happening over and over again with no repercussions to whoever is doing it.”
Their family received a letter from an anonymous person saying that if the barking didn’t stop that “we will take matters further if you continue to allow this to happen. We will not tell you what action we will take.”
As for Ms Romeril, she claims she has contacted the people she believes are responsible who “swore it wasn’t them”.
“I wish they wouldn’t be so cruel about a dog barking when you could come and speak to me or my family and have a normal discussion instead of ending a harmless dog’s life.”
While Arno was lucky this time round, the vet believes the rat or snail poisoning will destroy his organs and eventually kill him if it occurs again.
“The poison has made Arno more anxious – he already has anxiety issues so it has made him more on edge and stressed,” she said.
“And it’s stressed me out due to the fact that I am a casual worker and have to keep coming up with all this money that I really can’t afford to be giving up every few weeks.”
Taysia and her family are keeping Arno inside for his safety. They accompany him outside when needed, ensuring they check the backyard for poison before he goes outside.
As for the person responsible for the sinister act, “I would like them to explain to me why they think it is okay to do this to someone’s dog and I would like to see them pay for what they have done because we have gone through a lot in such a small amount of time.”
Victoria Police were notified about the incident.
