Dog poisoning cause 'was natural'

The toxin which killed several dogs and left others
ill after being walked in Nottinghamshire woodland was not man-made,
tests have confirmed.During the autumn, up to eight dogs died after being walked on Forestry Commission land near Sherwood Forest. Natural
England investigated four cases and quickly ruled out common pesticides
but further tests have found no artificial poisons. No definitive cause has been identified but infection from ticks is suspected. In September, owners were advised to keep dogs on a lead in Haywood Oaks, Blidworth Woods, Sherwood Pines and Thieves Wood. Owners upsetA Natural England spokesman said that while no direct proof had been found, ticks or mites were the most likely cause. Claire
Goodear, a vet who treated some of the ill dogs, said: "The dogs I saw
had vomiting, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties but there are
several diseases and poisons which can produce these symptoms. "Tick-borne diseases are quite rare in the UK, they are more common in warmer countries but we do see a couple every so often." Sherry Fern from Sutton-in-Ashfield, who lost one dog in the incident, said it was difficult not to know the cause. "When
we had the initial report back it was actually quite upsetting, because
while we don't want to find that someone had been deliberately leaving
poison-but the frustrating thing is we don't know why the dogs died. "It was not just the dogs that were affected, it was the other wildlife and we don't know how to stop it happening again."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/8448065.stm