Someone is poisoning dogs in the Wood River Valley (updated 9/29)

Someone is using the artificial sweetener, xylitol, to presumably poison wolves in the Wood River Valley. It is unclear whether any wolves or other canines have been poisoned but one dog has died and another has been sickened by eating xylitol laced meatballs placed in the Lake Creek area.

A picture online shows several of the meatballs that have been found in the area.

When consumed Xylitol kills canines by causing low blood sugar. The meatballs were placed in an area that is frequently used and not far from residences.

The use of poisons to kill any animals is about as low as you get. Hopefully the perpetrator will be identified and held accountable for their actions.

Sept. 26, 2012. The Idaho Mountain Express has more.

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Sept. 28, 2012. Later news on the Wood River Valley dog poisonings. Sept. 28. Sheriff broadens dog poisoning investigation. Second suspected poisoning reported this week. By Terry Smith. Idaho Mountain Express Staff Writer.

Note: the Wood River Valley is the Sun Valley/Ketchum/Hailey area of Idaho. — Ralph Maughan


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Comments

  1. Ralph Maughan Avatar
    Ralph Maughan

    We’ve been through this before. About a decade has passed. They always end up poisoning far more people’s dogs than anything else.

    It’s time someone served a long sentence with hard time!

  2. Richie G Avatar
    Richie G

    Ralph I said something would happen,could ,in your opinion put a road block in what is going on as a whole,you know the hunting the trapping etc. ??

    1. Ken Cole Avatar

      No. Idaho is too committed to reducing the wolf population to put it on hold because of this.

  3. Louise Kane Avatar

    Maybe they should ask them, when caught, to ingest the same meatballs. I might have murderous thoughts if someone killed my dog.

    1. Craig Avatar
      Craig

      That would really do a lot! I put Xylitol in my coffee everyday! http://www.xylitol.org/

    2. Barb Rupers Avatar
      Barb Rupers

      As pointed out in the Idaho Mountain Express article, zylitol is not poisonous to humans but it is to canines.

      http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/vet-views/story/2011/02/Vets-view-Xylitol-can-be-deadly-to-dogs-/43576818/1

      1. Barb Rupers Avatar
        Barb Rupers

        Sorry, thats xylitol; just sounds to me like it should be a z not an x.

        1. Harley Avatar
          Harley

          heh heh It’s like xylophone.

          1. Barb Rupers Avatar
            Barb Rupers

            And xylem.

        2. Louise Kane Avatar

          I stand corrected on the subject of artificial sweetener in meatballs.

          1. Craig Avatar
            Craig

            One more correction, Ken said Xylitol is a “artificial sweetener” it is not! It is all Natural sweetner, that’s why I put the link up. It’s a very good product, just not for Dogs or Wolves.

  4. Immer Treue Avatar
    Immer Treue

    If inappropriate please remove, but a certain Lobo Watch author was profound in suggestion about using xylitol a couple three years ago. If one is bold enough to suggest its use, perhaps his door should be the first knocked upon by The authorities, or those who lost their dog. I guess one is free to say what they want, but consequences can be tough. Then we can witness the bluster.

    1. Nancy Avatar
      Nancy

      Immer – my guess would be THAT certain “individual” (author? thats stretching it) wouldn’t have so much as a dusting of xylitol in his house, just in case the local authorities did decide to stop in.

      This appears to be a task best left up to his Neanderthal buddies/groupies/followers to carry out in the name of…… 🙂

  5. CodyCoyote Avatar
    CodyCoyote

    Do a Google search for ” Toby Bridges , xylitol ” and you’ll find the selfsame rabid anti-wolfer was actually ( almost) advocating for elk hunters to leave behind generous amounts of Xylitol in their gut piles of elk shot in known wolf territory. Old Toby had his toes right on that line in a carefully worded post at his blog. Privately , he was a little more strident.

    http://www.lobowatch.org/adminclient/WolfKill1/go

    1. HAL 9000 Avatar
      HAL 9000

      This line from the blog caught my eye:

      “The environmentalist, who dream of returning to a pre- Columbian environment, before humans appeared upon North America…”

      Hmmm…. apparently, he doesn’t consider Native American Indians to be humans.

      Also, his line about upwards of 80 percent of the elk being gone was a real knee-slapper too.

      The guy must not get out much. They’re handing out elk tags like candy at a six-year-old’s birthday party.

    2. Immer Treue Avatar
      Immer Treue

      A truly soulless individual.

  6. Salle Avatar
    Salle

    I saw an article, can’t recall what site right now, last week about this same type of poisoning taking place in Moscow, Russia last week. Seems to be some whacked domestic dog hating bunch who have been doing this for months now. All I can say is…WTF is the matter with people?

  7. Richie G Avatar
    Richie G

    To Ken; So Ken this will not even puta dent in this wolf killing, Raplh said it best buy up the land, this is very sad.

  8. alf Avatar
    alf

    Shades of Tim Sundles, in the Salmon area, about ten or so years ago.

    As I recall, he was tried and convicted, but didn’t do a single hour of jail time or pay one penny in fines or restitution. Last I heard, he had moved to Darby Montana, another infamous refuge for and incubator of ultra right wing kooks.

    And more recently, there was a spate of dog poisonings in Salmon proper a couple years ago. When the local law enforcement types refused to act — or acted incompetently — the owner of one of the poisoned dogs had a private investigator delve into it. The evidence he uncovered pointed strongly at one individual, but apparently it was thought that it wasn’t enough to stand up in court, so the investigation ended. But coincidentally, the dog poisonings ended, too.

  9. SAP Avatar
    SAP

    Ugh. Keep your dogs safe & be prepared. Put a bell on your dog so you can keep track of where she is; carry a big plastic syringe (sans needle) and some peroxide in case you need to induce vomiting.

    There’s a real hot corner of Hell for these dog poisoning cowards. 3-7-77.

Author

Ken Cole is a 5th generation Idahoan, an avid fly fisherman, wildlife enthusiast, and photographer. He is the interim Idaho Director for Western Watersheds Project.

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