TV appeal to help find dog poisoner
Police will make a television appeal for help to track down the notorious Mid-Levels dog poisoner, and are warning owners to be on the lookout for toxic bait and keep an eye on their pets after recent cases.
Later this month, the appeal will be made in the Police Report television programme, and officers will put up posters and distribute leaflets to warn pet owners in Black's Link and Bowen Road, where dozens of dogs had been poisoned and killed.
Police figures show that 72 dog poisonings were reported from January 1995 to October last year, but the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said more than 100 dogs had been killed since 1989 as there were many unreported cases.
The latest move comes after a Labrador that picked up poisoned meat on Bowen Road was killed last month, while a golden retriever survived a poisoning incident in Black's Link.
As well as uniformed officers, police in plain clothes - some dressed like hikers - will patrol the area while inspectors from the SPCA make daily inspections in an effort to track down the killer and look for poisoned bait.
An examination showed that the poison implicated in previous dog poisonings was Carbofuran, one of the most toxic carbamate pesticides, a police source said. Last month, meat suspected to have been laced with insecticide was found in Black's Link.
The source said the purplish-red insecticide was mixed with chicken and pork and scattered on the roadside.
Besides the two poisoning cases last month, police received a report of another poisoning in February in which the dog recovered after treatment.
The SPCA has offered a reward of HK$160,000 for information leading to a conviction, but no reward is being offered by police.
No security cameras have been installed in the area although police have considered this option.
