Police investigate Marchand dog deaths

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This article was published 18/04/2019 (1826 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Marchand woman is grieving the death of her beloved dog, while also fearing that it may have been a sinister act that took his life.

Rosalie Stelmack, who lives on Twin River Road in Marchand, said she let her dog, Buster, out last Tuesday in the afternoon to go to the bathroom. That evening, Buster began to throw up.

A one day later, Buster’s condition was worsening. He was vomiting blood. She and her daughter rushed him to a veterinarian.

The vet figured it was poison.

“We were informed that he had indeed ingested something, her guess was antifreeze or rat poison. He was suffering and they couldn’t help him so we had to put him down,” Stelmack said.

Along with the heartbreak of losing her 11-year-old dog, Stelmack said she is now on edge after she learned through social media that a total of seven dogs and cats from the area have recently suffered from similar similar poisoning.

Stelmack said five of those animals passed away while two survived.

In the days after her dog’s death she found a piece of jerky in her front yard. She wasn’t the only one.

“I started receiving messages from people who were finding meat close to where their dogs are chained up, even in their doorsteps a couple of days in a row,” she said. “I decided then to call the RCMP to look into it because it was a little much and we all began to be afraid.”

Now Stelmack says more meat has been discovered in the area as both a huge slab of beef and an entire ham have been found in the area near her home.

“We will encounter dead animals in the ditches from time to time, deer, even a bear, but none of us have encountered this before, so when you add everything up with everyone coming forward it’s very suspicious,” Stelmack said.

An RCMP spokesperson confirmed an investigation has been launched into the issue of dogs getting sick and strange meat being found in the Marchand area. Anyone with any information is asked to call Steinbach RCMP.

“We want answers,” Stelmack said. “We are channeling the anger into something productive to ensure we can safeguard not only our fur babies, but other families as well.”