Nanaimo dog eats meatballs stuffed with contents to harm

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WATCH: A Nanaimo woman is sounding the alarm after her dog was sickened by what appear to be tainted meatballs left in her yard. The meat was mixed with what could be steel wool and other possibly toxic materials. Now she’s trying to figure out who would want to intentionally harm her young German Shepherd and why. Kendall Hanson reports.

The Normand’s backyard in north Nanaimo is usually a safe haven.

A place for their kids to play in and for their dog to roam but that sense of safety was shattered this week.

“I felt sick to my stomach. Who would want to do that to an animal?” asked Carla Normand, the dog’s owner.

On Sunday night, Normand noticed their German shepherd Dexter pick up something unusual in the corner of their yard.

She took it from the one-and-a-half-year-old dog and was shocked at what she found.

“I tore it open and found steel netting and blue mesh inside of it,” said Normand. “It’s, I guess, canned dog food mushed into a ball with mysterious stuff in it.”

And then Monday, she found another similar one along the fence of their Hammond Bay Road area yard.

Dexter was sick on Thursday Normand discovered he had ingested the same substances she had found at a different time.

“It’s lucky he didn’t get really sick, so it was definitely with intent to hurt an animal, which is a bummer,” said Normand.

Now Normand is wondering why someone would target her pet.

Neighbours say Dexter is not a nuisance to them.

“I was really concerned as to how they got them in the backyard and also because we have a dog, we were concerned there weren’t any in our yard as well so we searched our whole yard front and back,” said Louise Cianflone, a neighbour.

Normand has reported the incident to the RCMP and SPCA.

Nanaimo’s SPCA branch manager says they haven’t received any other similar complaints.

“The file has been assigned to a cruelty investigation officer and she’s going to be investigating further to see what we can find out,” said Leon Davis of Nanaimo SPCA. “To have wire wool inside any sort of food or treat or inside meatballs is hugely concerning and could end up causing fatal injuries to a dog

A sample of the meatball found in the yard is being tested

Normand still doesn’t know what to make of it all but she is not taking any chances. She’s planning on installing surveillance cameras just in case someone comes back to her yard.

Kendall HansonKendall Hanson

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