Last
Saturday Lauri Dickinson's dog Valentina got deathly ill from eating corn that
was fed to the cranes in the Candelaria Wildlife Preserve on Veranda. Below is
her letter telling us what she went through. Please be careful when walking
your dogs in this area. Valentina is featured with Jesse on the February page
of the Life is a Ditch 2015 calendar.
My
dog was poisoned by the corn seed outside the fence on Veranda.
I
spent $400 and four hours in the dog emergency hospital yesterday after my
young and healthy puppy ate some of the corn
that
people are feeding to the cranes.
Symptoms
were disorientation, inability to walk, and tremors.
The
vet said that it was most likely the fungicide that bird seed is treated with
that caused the toxic reaction.
Corn
can also ferment when ingested by dogs.
I
am not sure why the seed was outside of the fence, but I found some more out
there today.
I
know that the Open Space asks that we do not feed the cranes, to protect them
from being vulnerable to hunters when the cranes migrate - but here is another
reason to refrain from feeding them!
PLEASE
DO NOT FEED THE CRANES- OR LET THE SEED FALL OUTSIDE THE FENCE!
Please
tell your neighbors not to let their dogs eat the seed.
I
hope this will keep other dogs from being poisoned!
My
dog is fine today, thankfully, but the symptoms persisted for over 8 hours.
Lauri Dickinson and
Valentina
