Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Rancher, wildlife advocates offer reward

The Blaine County Sheriff’s Office is working with Defenders of Wildlife and the Carey-area Flat Top Ranch to offer a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person who poisoned at least two dogs near Ketchum. The first dog, a 6-year-old American Staffordshire terrier named Skylar, died several days after ingesting xylitol-laced, meatball-size chunks of meat that it found while on a hike out Lake Creek with its owner in mid-August. Xylitol is an artificial sweetener that is safe for human consumption and is found in sugar-free chewing gun, but is poisonous to canines. Xylitol became notorious for its potential to poison wolves in 2010, when anti-wolf activist and author of the Lobo Watch blog Toby Bridges urged elk and deer hunters to sweeten gut piles with xylitol. The Blaine County Sheriff’s Office is investigating both cases, Sheriff Gene Ramsey said last week...more

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