ST. PAUL - Last year, multiple dogs in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood were poisoned by intentionally tainted bread, and nobody was ever caught.
Now - after a homeowner from the same area found pieces of bread near his dog’s outdoor water bowl - police are suspicious that the dog-hating perpetrator is back.
Just after 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, a man returned to his home to find ripped-up pieces of bread next to his dog’s bowl in his fenced-in yard.
The man told police his dog didn’t eat the bread and was fine, but noted that his next-door neighbor told him bread appeared next to her dog’s bowl, as well. Police had yet to make successful contact with the neighbor Friday.
The bread was recovered for investigation.
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Last year, multiple dogs were poisoned by strange bread in the same four-block radius that included the home police were called to this week.
“In the past it was biscuits, so it would be a little different from last year,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.
Eight dogs fell ill from the biscuits last year, which were stuffed with rat poison pellets. Three later died - though at least one appeared to perish, in part, from unrelated health issues.
The bread taken Thursday - apparently pieces ripped from a whole loaf - had no signs of solid poison on it, Ernster noted.
Still, it was worrying enough to prompt police to post to their Western District’s Facebook page, asking residents to be on the lookout.
“If this happens at your home PLEASE make a police report by calling 651-291-1111,” the post read, “and if at all possible recover the bread for the officer to take to have it tested for poison and to be used as evidence. Be sure to use a plastic baggie to pick up the bread.”
