Four adult dogs, two puppies die in apparent poisoning

ROBERT B. ROAN PHOTO: Covington-area resident Antoinette Boone, left, and Lisa Whittlesey grieve as they look at 4-year-old German shepherd mix "Brownie" just minutes after the dog died of apparent poisoning. The healthy, broad-shouldered dog lived on Boone's 37-acre tract of land on Million Dollar Road and he was one of four adult dogs and two puppies to die Wednesday under suspicious circumstances. Inset, Whittlesey holds a month-old puppy struggling for life in the aftermath of the apparent poisoning. The puppy survived but its mother, "MawMaw," and two of its littermates died. (Staff Photos by Robert B. Roan) COVINGTON - When Lisa Whittlesey arrived at work Wednesday morning she expected to see a dog named "Buddy" waiting to greet her at the gate. After all, the amiable 3-year-old German Shepherd mix ran nearly every weekday alongside Whittlesey's vehicle until she parked outside Ray's Automotive on Million Dollar Road. But this day was different because the gold-colored canine was unable to lope the quarter-mile length of the gravel driveway. In fact, when Whittlesey got out of her car, "Buddy" could barely raise his head. "I got here around 7:30 this morning and Buddy' was lying over there near the driveway," Whittlesey said as she choked back tears. "He lifted his head up and looked at me and then he went into convulsions. "He was foaming at the mouth and he was dead in less than 10 minutes." Whittlesey, who works part-time at the automotive repair shop located north of Covington on a parcel of Antoinette Boone's 37-acre tract, walked over to the horse stalls to see about a dog named "MawMaw" and its litter of six, 4-week-old puppies. A pair of the black-and-gold-colored pups was stiff and splayed out on the concrete while three of the puppies were staggering about and clinging to life. "MawMaw" and the remaining puppy, "a beautiful, blonde-haired baby" as Whittlesey described it, were no where to be found. Whittlesey had named one of the deceased pups "Harley Davidson" and had planned to take it home as soon as the month-old "feisty fur-ball" was weaned from its mother. By this time Antoinette Boone had come down the hill from her residence of more than 25 years to find her favorite pet, a 6-year-old dog named "Brindle" for its distinctive, striped color pattern, dead near the pond. The dog, which also had a litter of puppies, had vomited before its convulsive demise and the partially digested stomach contents convinced Boone that someone had perpetrated a heinous act on innocent and loved canine companions. "She (Brindle') had thrown up pieces of table food," Boone said, "and we never feed the dogs scraps. She threw up macaroni and cheese and parts of bologna with the red, plastic wrapping still on it. "The food had a strong odor to it something like turpentine." Boone added, "My dog was poisoned by somebody...all of these sweet dogs were poisoned. Why would someone do something as awful as this to dogs who never hurt anyone?" Shortly after discovering "Brindle," the two women watched in horror as another dog, 4-year-old "Brownie," began to whirl about with a mixture of blood and foam spewing from its mouth and nostrils. The broad-shouldered, gold-and-rust-colored dog died a short time later and Whittlesey, fellow Ray's Automotive employee Paul Warner and Boone began to care for the surviving pups and police up the dead dogs for burial. Warner saw "Buddy" around 8 p.m. the night before and he said the playful dog seemed healthy and "fun...like he always was." "He was a great dog and he never hurt nobody," Warner said. "It doesn't make any sense for somebody to have poisoned these dogs. "I can't believe a person would do this." Steve Perschall, who works at the automotive shop owned by his father, Ray Perschall, added, "These dogs have all of this property to run around on so I can't imagine they would have gone on somebody else's land and bothered them in any way. "This was a cruel act by a sick person and I would like to know who did it." When asked if possibly the dogs could have gotten into any chemicals used at the business, Steve Perschall showed how all of the cleaning liquids are kept in separate and capped containers at all times. A search for "MawMaw" ended when she was found lying on her side in a grove of trees adjacent to the shop. Just as with the other dogs, the golden-haired cur died with foam and blood caked around its muzzle area and its tongue was discolored a pasty shade of white. Around mid-day, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office animal control officers came out to the property and surveyed the scene. The officers took "Brindle's" carcass away to be transported later in the day to the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine in Baton Rouge for a forensic autopsy and a toxicology examination. Standing in the shop next to a just-repaired vehicle owned by a sheriff's deputy, Steve Perschall said someone told him that thieves with designs on burglarizing a house or a place of business will oftentimes attempt to poison any and all guard dogs on the targeted property. "If anybody out there killed these dogs with that in mind...well, let me just say I don't think that was a well thought out idea," Perschall said. If anyone has information about the possible poisoning of these animals, contact the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office at 898-2340.