More Snohomish County Dog Poisonings
On Friday, Snohomish County Parks and Recreation issued a “Dog Safety Warning” about several dog poisonings that have occurred both at private residences and local off-leash dog parks since last fall.

These are some of the meatballs containing rat poison that someone threw in the yard of an Arlington family last November. Both of their dogs ate some of them but both survived. Photo from KOMO News.
The warning notes that Snohomish Parks started to hear or read reports last Fall of “possible dog poisonings at private residents throughout Snohomish County, at our County Park Off Leash Dog Areas and in other counties.”
Last December I wrote about two dogs in Arlington that ate meatballs laced with rat poison someone threw in their yard. Fortunately both dogs survived.
A few days later, a man in Lake Stevens who lived nearby those two dogs said one of his dogs died after eating food containing rat poison that someone put in his yard.
And over the weekend people reported on the Facebook page Lost Dogs of King County that four more dogs in Snohomish County were poisoned at Willis Tucker Off-Leash Area.
Dogs Survived This Time
Here’s the post from a dog groomer on January 12th reporting that one dog died after eating a poisoned meatball there:
“FYI there is an off leash dog park called Willis Tucker Dog Park off of 132nd St in Mill Creek
You need to be aware of; one of my clients took their Britney Spaniel to play off leash and while there the dog found one of those meatballs with rat poison and ate it. ? she passed away that night.”
That same day someone who works at a veterinary hospital wrote:
“There were 3 poisonings on Saturday as well at Willis Tucker Park. They came into my work as well.”

Diesel died after eating food containing rat poison that someone put in his yard. Image from KOMO News.
Those 3 dogs reportedly survived. No one mentioned what type of poison they ate or if it was inside food someone left there.
Watch Your Dogs Carefully
Someone poisioned my dog seattle, king county. With barbiturates. Not sure here it was from but makes me wonder now. He was in the Er vet for 2 days fighting for his life and he is.Ok now.
I’m sorry. Glad he’s ok now.
Absolutely terrible! I wish someone would set up surveillance on that park and catch the subhuman(s) responsible.
If the person poisoning the dogs in this community is reading this, hope…HOPE I’m not the one who catches you. Because right after I hang up with 911, I will beat you until my arms give out. I will kick your sorry @$$ from one end of this county to another. Mark my words, if you survive the 7 minute response time this county boasts about, you’ll be sitting in jail wishing you had died.
Amen.
I totally second that
It’s a shame law enforcement has failed to inform the public about this threat. If a toddler eats one and is harmed then authorities may take notice. Is there a way we can get a map of where these have occurred?
The addresses of the people whose dogs were poisoned in their own yards were never given. The rest of the poisonings occurred at the Willis Tucker dog park.
Law enforcement doesn’t give out addresses. I think it’s safe to say we all have to be very careful with our kids and animals these days. Long past the days of letting play in our own yards without being present or scouting them out first. Pretty crappy. Makes you wonder if they have no respect for life what else they will do.
And there is this – a person driving a vehicle was stopped in traffic at 176 St SE & Hwy 9 this past Friday.
Her dog was in the vehicle and the window was partially down. A female pedestrian approached the vehicle and said “cute dog”, while giving the dog something to eat.
The owner thought it was suspicious and went directly to her vet. They induced vomiting and found what appeared to be rat poison inside some food.
The dog survived and it was reported to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
Thanks for posting this. How did you hear about it?
A Snohomish County Sergeant posted it on FB after getting the report.
Was there any truth to some ISIS loser telling Muslims who weren’t ready to go full terrorist to start poisoning our dogs? I remember reading about that in December – there were cases in Spain and Sweden.
Other than cruelty to animals what might the other be the crimes and prison terms that could be enforced in cases where neighbors and other people leave improperly dispensed poisons?
Dogs are legally considered property in WA but I don’t know how the law would be applied.
I think everyone that reads this article should contact Sno. Co. Via contact info provided in the link to the dog safety notice. This is a class C felony and should be taken seriously. Their notice is almost a joke. All they did was go around and ask some vets if they had any dogs come in sick. They need to put up video surveillance to curb the incidents at the very least and hopefully catch the perp in the act.
asshole
This would qualify as a death penalty case in my world. Deliberately poisoning someone’s pet is some seriously disturbed sh**.
Agreed
Our lab spent 6 days at the emergency vet for unknown causes a year ago Jan 1 2015. After nearly dying, a blood transfusion, 2 days in an oxygen tank and more money than most people would be able to spend on a k9, she finally started getting better. After a battery of tests there was no conclusion as to the cause. I have always suspected some sort of poison but have no evidence. She is all better but it took a couple of months for her to recover. Then in Nov 2015 our neighbor’s dog got ahold of some rat poison while on a walk in our south Bothell neighborhood. What the hell is going on???
I wish I knew. I’m glad your dog is OK. Did she have massive internal bleeding? If so it was probably rat poison.