Owner of poisoned dogs comes forward

We have an update tonight to the story we first told you yesterday — about the seven dogs found poisoned on the Six Nations reserve. After watching the story on CHCH, the owner, Donavan Clause, called us to say they’re his and he’s glad they’ve received the treatment they needed to keep them alive. But he was under the impression he’d be able to get them back. However, the SPCA says he’ll have to pay or the dogs will be put up for adoption.

Donavan says he came to the spca today to get his dogs back but was presented with a medical bill of just under 4 thousand dollars. He can’t afford that, so at the very least he hopes four of the surviving five dogs will be adopted to good homes but needs to still come up with $378 dollars to adopt the one dog he’d like back.

This is “Manma”, one of the dogs poisoned along with four others last Tuesday.

Donavan Clause: “They were all just laying there and usually when they see me they jump up and come running to me.”

But when Donavan Clause found 7 of his dogs in a poisoned state he called for help.

“The 7 dogs were brought here to Grand River Veterinary hospital. They were able to save 5 of them but 2 had to be euthanized because they were poisoned so severely.

Donavan says the mother of the pups, named ‘Old Poppers’ and a pup named ‘Girl’ died from the poison. The hospital didn’t want to talk on camera but did email us this statement: “The real tragedy behind this story this that it is not unique. Unfortunately, we deal with situations like this almost weekly. What is important for everyone to understand that this could be completely preventable. If you ever find yourself frustrated with stray pets or even owned pets. Never take matters into your own hands. Most communities offer Animal Control Services that can effectively deal with all situations humanely. There are no over the counter products available that can humanely euthanize pets.”

Donavan says his neighbours have complained about his dogs running loose in the past. He says he feeds and shelters dogs on his one acre property that were unwanted. He’d like his five poisoned dogs back but the medical bill the SPCA is asking him to pay for is 787 dollars per dog. That’s a total of more than 39 hundred dollars. Donavan can’t afford that. Aat the very least he’d like to adopt ‘Manma’: “They said if I don’t adopt my dog tomorrow it’s gone and I won’t know where it is. They just make you happy when you have a dog jump on you it just makes you feel good.”

The veterinary hospital in Caledonia says it doesn’t believe anyone is actively trying to find the person responsible for poisoning the dogs. The Hamilton-Burlington SPCA wouldn’t talk to us on camera today but says none of the dogs will be ready for adoption until they have recovered from the poisoning which could take until next week some time.