Who is poisoning dogs near Highway 221 North in Douglas?
Rebekah and Troy Ladouceur and Sabrina Carver have all lost dogs from what they believe to be poison around their neighborhood. Both of these families live near or on Weeks Road and Tyson Road in Douglas, not far off Highway 221 North. According to these families, animals in the area have been dying rapidly due to poisoned food for close to a year now.
Sabrina states that dogs have been dying in their fenced-in backyards, and like hers, even walking on a leash. “She was a part of our family,” says Sabrina, as she begins to tell the story of her beloved dog CoCo. She states they got CoCo around 9 years ago after her husband, James, passed after a long battle with cancer. CoCo was originally supposed to be gifted to James but was born on the day of his funeral. “She was our happiness during a time of grief,” says Sabrina.
On the night of December 29, 2023, Sabrina’s son was walking CoCo on Tyson Road when she started to eat something that was on the ground. Her son couldn’t quite tell what it was and before he could get it away from her, she had already ingested it. Within a few minutes, CoCo started losing motor function, was trying to vomit, and eventually she couldn’t walk. Her son picked CoCo up, rushed back home but there was nothing anyone could do. Within 15 minutes of ingesting what was on the ground, CoCo was gone. Sabrina heard about animals being poisoned on Weeks Road so she states they avoided walking CoCo around that area. That is why her son chose to walk CoCo on Tyson Road instead. Sabrina and her son reported the incident and filed a report of what happened.
According to Troy and Rebekah, this is only one report of many that have been filed over the last year. Troy and Rebekah breed Dobermans in addition to having their own pets. The dogs live in a fenced-in backyard and spend time in their home occasionally. For them, the first incident occurred in February of 2023. According to Troy and Rebekah, they have had at least eight Dobermans die in their fenced-in backyard with 11 dogs dying in total. “We have had a dog die every month since last February,” states Troy. He counts a whopping total of 26 dogs that have passed in the area in the last year after ingesting what they believe to be poisoned food.
Troy states he and his wife have four young children, one as young as two years old. He claims they are now afraid to let them play in their own yard; the fear of them ingesting poison is far too great. Troy and Rebekah state others in the neighborhood are afraid to get pets of their own out of fear of them being poisoned as well.
Sabrina, Troy, and Rebekah claim another dog passed away just last week. According to one of the many police reports made, officers made contact with an individual who lives in the area. The individual admitted to using poison on his property but stated he has never put poison anywhere else.
According to Troy and Rebekah, PETA has been contacted and has agreed to actively investigate the situation. Rebekah states that she even has a sample of food that her dog ingested before passing that they hope will eventually be tested.
In the meantime, they are hoping for a break in the case before more family pets die in such a horrifying manner.