The North End dog group, known as RUFF (Responsible Urbanites for Fido), sent out a warning to all dog owners (and parents) about two dogs having eaten loose rat poison on Greenough Lane.
There was an incident this past weekend where loose rat poison was left out in Greenough Lane. Dogs are very attracted to the poison and both consumed a fair amount. Both dogs ended up at Angell Memorial. The RUFF team went over during the park pick up on Sunday and noticed the poison in areas other than where the dogs consumed it.
I followed up w Boston Police on Sunday (who seems uninterested) and will be placing a call w/ DCR today. I am not sure where else to go with this so any suggestions are helpful. My concern at the moment is if there if the substance is still there- another dog or cat will eat it, or a child (it looks like rock candy).
Please avoid that park – the poison is bright blue.
The incident has also been reported to City Hall through Nicole Leo and the Parks Department, according to a message from NEWRA President Stephanie Hogue. NEWMA also blasted the message to neighborhood parents.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/isd/esan/
Pardon the confusion BUT I cannot figure out what the DCR has to do with Greenough Lane and/or rats. Try contacting the person in charge of the dept responsible for rodent control in Boston Environmental Services.
Assistant Commissioner Leo Boucher.
I saw the nasty-grams posted in the park today. LOVED the quote above about how the Boston police seem “uninterested.” Uh yeah, you think!? They might have bigger crimes to deal with than rat poison.
As a North End resident on the front lines of battling the rat epidemic, I applaud the rat poisoner. The rats are a real problem. Maybe the dog owners should be leashing and watching their own pets instead of blaming other people. If a kid drops a chocolate bar on the street and your dog eats it, that’s your fault, not the kid’s.
I do hope the dogs are okay, though.
Daphne, it’s nice that you hope that the dogs are okay. But if you are going to call out the dog owners for being irresponsible shouldn’t you call out the rat poisoner for being irresponsible too? Who are you to even call out the dog owners? Do you even know if the dogs were leashed up? We do know two things.. it is irresponsible to place poison in a public place, and it is also illegal. If a child dropped his candy bar onto the ground in that park and picked it back up he would be eating rat poison. Small children eat off the ground too, and there are more children in this neighborhood than dogs. Couldn’t this person at least have put up a sign warning parents and pet owners to be vigilant? At last check rats cannot read so the poison plan would not have been compromised. Putting up a sign would have showed some form of a social conscience. I hate seeing rats run around the streets too. But there are responsible ways for these problems to be dealt with. This “rat poisoner” chose to be lazy and skirt around the law. The poison law is there to protect the public against things like this.
Well said Dan.
If anyone knows the owners of the dogs in question they would know they weren’t on leashes, because they never are. It is a shame what happened to the dogs, but the fact is it never would’ve happened if dogs were leashed.
I don’t see why this is a off/on leash issue. Children are also in Greenough Land and always off leash. Placing uncontained rat poison in a public park is against the law, plain and simple. Not looking to inflame, just stating fact.
Dear Daphne~
I wish that you would have begun your comments with the kind words that you expressed at the end of your statement. I wish that someone one would think before they spoke and attempted to place themselves in someone elses shoes.. being able to see beyond oneself to the larger issue so that all can be safe and we all can find a solution together without blasting one another.. That would be a great plan….