Authorities: Dogs dead after someone poisons water bowls with antifreeze

WEST ASHLEY, SC (WCSC) - The Charleston Police Department is on the lookout for the person responsible for poisoning five dogs, four of which have died, by pouring antifreeze into the animals' water bowls.

On Friday night, a police officer responded to a home on Savannah Highway in West Ashley in reference to dogs that were poisoned.

A couple spoke with the officer and said they believed their dogs had been poisoned by something they drank.

The woman said she noticed that her dogs were beginning to act strange Friday morning and described them as "acting drunk." The woman left the house and received a call a few hours later from her neighbors saying that her dogs were sick.

When the woman arrived home, she found her dogs vomiting and noticed that their water bowls had a green color in them.

The woman then took the dogs to the Animal Care Center on Savannah Highway where a veterinarian told officers he believed that the dogs had been poisoned with antifreeze.

According to the dogs owners, the only way into their backyard was through a locked gate. The owners said they believed someone entered the backyard and poured a green substance into the water bowls.

Authorities say the dogs that were poisoned were a yellow lab, a cocker spaniel, a cotonese, a havanese and a shih tzu. The Charleston Animal Society says four of the dogs have died due to kidney failure.

The veterinarian at the Animal Care Center believes the dogs were poisoned with ethylene gycol, which is a common ingredient in antifreeze.

The Charleston Animal Society reported that the dogs had no serious medical problems before this incident.

"These were young, family dogs, who were loved by their owners," a statement by the Charleston Animal Society read." All of us at Charleston Animal Society are especially heartbroken by this tragedy, because four of these dogs were adopted from us over the past several years."

"Antifreeze is very sweet tasting and dogs and cats will drink it.  Don't leave it laying around where they can get at it, and keep them out of garage and driveways where antifreeze may have leaked," said Charleston Animal Society Director of Public Health and Spay/Neuter Initiatives, Dr. Lucy Fuller.  Just a small amount of antifreeze can lead to kidney damage or failure in cats or dogs.  Dr. Fuller is available for interviews on this topic.

If you have any information you are asked to call the police at (843) 720-2427 or Crime Stoppers at 554-1111.

Copyright 2013 WCSC. All rights reserved.