Posted on: Sunday, August 11, 2002

Poison kills dogs in Kihei once more

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

KIHEI, Maui — After more than two years of calm, the paraquat poisonings that angered pet owners in the Auhana Road neighborhood were starting to become a faded memory. Just last month the Maui Humane Society discontinued its biweekly patrols of the area.

Then it happened again. Two dogs were poisoned last week.

"There's some sick freak out there,'' said Terri Cambra, whose mixed-breed Labrador died from ingesting paraquat, a herbicide sold under the brand name Gramoxone. A neighbor's dog died with symptoms consistent with poisoning by antifreeze.

The Humane Society has resumed the patrols and continues to offer a reward that has built up to $12,000 since the last series of poisonings in 1999. The money will go to the individual providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whomever is responsible.

"We want this one badly. We need to take this person out of commission," said Aimee Anderson, supervising animal-control officer.

Maui has seen its share of deliberate poisonings of pets, with more than 60 animals victimized in the last dozen years. But Kihei's Auhana Street neighborhood has been the epicenter, with as many as 30 pet deaths, Anderson said.

For the Cambra family, the loss of Kea was to relive the nightmare of 2 1/2 years ago, when Koa, their golden retriever, became ill with paraquat and had to be euthanized.

It wasn't long after Koa died that Kea entered their life, a lost puppy that they found near the beach.

Cambra admits that after 2 1/2 years, they let their guard down.

"It's such a void,'' she said of their losses. "It's like someone in the family is not here."

Anderson said the neighborhood has no known problems with barking dogs, leash-law violations or dog attacks on cats.

That eliminates the revenge factor and leads her to suspect that "someone is doing it purely for pleasure — to say 'look what I can do and not get caught.' "

Paraquat poisoning can lead to an ugly death. The symptoms, which show up in one to three days, mimic a bad flu with vomiting and stomach pains. The lungs get clogged and it becomes a struggle to breathe.

Symptoms from ingesting antifreeze include vomiting, difficulty moving, and seizures. Antifreeze, or ethylene glycol, primarily attacks the kidneys and leaves the animal in a coma within 12 to 36 hours.

While the second death could have been from improper disposal or a car leak, the simultaneous timing of that poisoning makes it highly suspicious, Anderson said.