SALT LAKE CITY — Some strange deliveries are worrying a Rose Park neighborhood after several dogs have suffered stomach illnesses.
Neighbors believe someone is leaving large chunks of ground beef on the sidewalk and in the street.
They report this has happened at least once or twice a week since late March.
“He was sick and had runny bowel movements, so we knew something was amiss,” said Ross Kelly. His dog Charlie was one of the first in the neighborhood to experience those symptoms.
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Across the street, Dan Donnelly’s two dogs soon began having stomach issues of their own.
“My neighbor Ross here brought up the fact that he’s finding globs of ground meat on the ground and his dog had eaten it and gotten sick,” Donnelly said. “My dogs had gotten sick as soon as they had eaten the same glob of meat on the ground.”
The neighbors quickly realized the strange meat was the common thread between their dogs’ illnesses. They aren’t sure if it is tainted or spoiled.
A fourth dog in the neighborhood recently experienced stomach issues after sinking its teeth into the raw ground beef.
Luckily, their symptoms didn’t require veterinary attention, but those who live in this area near Garnette Street and Goodwin Avenue don’t understand why this is happening.
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“I’m very much disappointed. It’s a personal attack in my opinion,” Kelly said. “Our thing is to keep it from happening. We want to keep it from our dogs or somebody else’s.”
Kelly and Donnelly believe the culprits were caught on surveillance video Tuesday night before making another delivery.
They say everyone in the neighborhood is keeping a closer eye on their pets and looking for anything that seems suspicious.
Salt Lake County Animal Services says it has investigated the complaint, but investigators have no way of testing the meat for poison.