PET owners across the island are on high alert after a spate of malicious dog poisonings, reportedly using a banned – and highly toxic – pesticide.
According to one Latsia resident whose dog was poisoned on Friday, 12 cats and three dogs have been killed in the area after ingesting a white crystalline substance, thought to be Furadan.
Afroditi Michael wrote on the Cyprus Voice for Animals’ (CVA) facebook page: “I lost my dog on Friday night because of this poison… It looks like salt, it doesn’t need to be put on food they can just scatter it on the edge of the road.”
Another animal rights group that seeks to highlight this alarming trend, Cyprus Poison Alert, also posted warnings from concerned dog owners on their facebook page yesterday, with scores of commenters expressing shock and outrage and sharing their stories.
One said: “I live in Nicosia and in the last month there have been many incidents of animal poisoning… It is extremely dangerous because your pet does not eat it. If your pet steps on it, it burns its paws & the animal licks them. It is very powerful and pets die immediately.”
The same commenter reported two dogs had died this way so far.
All of the reports of poisoning by Furadan were anecdotal, and there has been no official confirmation by vets that this substance – which has been banned within the EU – is the cause of death.
Nevertheless, one vet did report an increase in poisoning cases at his Nicosia clinic. George Vassiliou said: “I now receive five to six cases per week, which are mostly poisoned with Lannate or organophosphates. The number is normally higher during the hunting season.”
The source of the chemical was confirmed by Environment Commissioner Charalambos Theopemptou yesterday, who said it was illegally imported into Cyprus from the occupied areas by pesticide dealers, who sell it for agricultural use here.
Theopemptou said: “From my enquiries I learned that this comes to the free areas from the occupied areas… I asked some of the people who sell this here, who said they bring it to the free areas and sell it off the back of their van.”
He said this breaks two laws, since the substance is banned in the European Union and only Cyprus produce can be traded across the green line.
Veterinary officer at the Agriculture Ministry’s animal welfare division, Elias Pantechis, said: “This is the first time that we have heard of this chemical, but there is a huge variety of agricultural chemicals that are used for this purpose… no one can deny that poisoning takes place.”
Pantechis said that according to official statistics, the number of poisonings has slightly decreased in recent years.
Asked what pet owners can do to protect their animals, Pantechis said that it was easier to control dogs than cats, and the most effective way was to train dogs to avoid food that is left on the ground.
“Another measure is to keep the animal under supervision – in many of the poisoning cases we have seen, the dog has been allowed to wander.”
According to several toxicology reports and online anecdotes, the symptoms of poisoning in dogs, from lanate include excessive salivation, trembling, muscle spasm and sometimes diarrhoea.
Furadan poisoning also includes: vomiting, abdominal cramps, sweating, imbalance, blurring of vision and breathing difficulty.
The LD50 – ie, the ingested dose shown to be lethal in 50 per cent of cases within 24 hours – is just 19 mg of furadan per kilogram of bodyweight.
Asked about the antidote, Vassiliou said: “The cure is to induce vomiting and then administer an antidote, but you need to bring the animal within the hour.”
Sadly, if the poison has been recently placed, animals can be killed in as little as five minutes.
