Once again it seems that there is somebody in Barga Vecchia intent on destroying the peace, quiet and well established community of this city by putting down meat that has been poisoned and which has so far claimed the life of three loved family pets.
Two dogs and a cat have all met a horrible end with the symptoms most probably pointing towards Strychnine poisoning as the cause of death.
Strychnine is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through eyes or mouth, causes a poisoning which results in muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia
So far these sad events have been taking place in just one area of Barga Vecchia around San Felice, Porta Macchiaia and the Acquedotto but the body of a fox just outside the main wall of the city on the Fornacetta is also being examined and treated as a possible poisoning.
Postmortems on the bodies of two of the dogs have already been carried out and the results are being examined by the authorities.
Hand written posters warning dog and cat owners to the danger were posted up in the city today and official printed posters from the Comune will be published later on today warning owners to keep their animals on a lead and use a muzzle if walking their pets in the city.
So far just who is behind these events is still unknown but the same kind of cowardly actions took place here in July of 2012 in which 5 dogs were poisoned (article here) and for which nobody was ever found to be responsible. In 2012 there was some doubt as to how the poison came to be in the area but this time there is no question as one of the lethal dosed balls of meat has been found and has already being examined by the authorities.
We live in sad and uncertain times and events such as these are not in any way, shape or form a good advert for a civilised and caring society.
