Meat bait complaint

Press, 26 January 1981, Page 6

Meat bait complaint

The S.P.C.A.--" is investigating a' “serious” complaint that poisoned meat bait, which attracts cats and' doqs. has ibeqn laid at the rat infested Jqhijs.Rjad rubbish dump., ' , - Up tp four cat?, the pets of families i.n'tfife.;area of the rubbish dump?''■may now have died from suspected poisoning. , A cat aged T 6 months, owned by the Houston fam-t ily of Harewood;Road, about 100 m from the tip, died of suspected poisoning on Friday evening.” y . ■. ■ An S.P.C.A. spokesman)

- said that a: person who lived ■in the area: of the. tip had I complained to the society r that the family’s pet cat had died from '.poisoning. The ■ person had alleged that meat bait had been laid in the .tip. ; Two l cats,owned by a neighbour had also died. . A cat or dog would certainly eat meat bait, but would not touch grain bait, the spokesman said. • ! The - Paparua County Council’s Cjhief health inspector, Mr I. B. Dawson said that a private pest .exterminator. firm, hjtd . been engaged to rid’ tjie' dutnp :’of I rats.

d) As far as he knew only, an d{ anti-coagulant poison in a yi grain bait had bee.n laid — d[it would not really be ateltractive to cats. It would be ti almost impossible for a (/domestic animal to die from i-: eating a rat that had been [poisoned by the grain bait. '-[ It would take a “solid tidied’’ of poisoned rats for :,) several days to kill a cat or a dog. he said. (’I He would inspect the tip -[this evening to see whether Ha “break-point" in getting -[rid of the rats had been /reached. Two or three nights fiwere needed for the poison 'to be effective.