SAN DIEGO —
A San Diego family is devastated after their dog died from poisoning. The family says they found toxic meatballs in their own backyard.
The dog’s owner now calls her backyard a crime scene.
Rita Alosio’s family got brothers “Milo” and “Tobi” as puppies.
You may have seen them around San Diego. They went to Meet Ups with Corgi groups.
“The whole idea behind Milo and Tobi were for them to be our emotional support animals for my children and I. I know those two really loved each other. They loved on us as much as we loved on them," Alosio said.
Every morning Alosio lets the dogs go into the backyard. One morning at the end of March when they came back inside, she noticed something very wrong with Tobi.
Alosio says he seemed anxious, his eyes were dilated and within 30 minutes he started having seizures.
Alosio and her children rushed Tobi and Milo to the animal hospital. Doctors gave Milo anti-seizure medication and he seemed okay. But no medication could stop Tobi’s seizures.
Alosio says he had nearly a dozen seizures, each one lasting 20 or 30 minutes. And each time, he was unable to breathe so doctors had him on oxygen. Finally doctors told Alosio they would need to intubate Tobi.
“The doctor had indicated it was most likely due to a poisoning. I had to make a very difficult decision with my children, we did not want him to suffer anymore," she said.
And after four hours of seizures, doctors had to put Tobi down. They took him to Milo one last time.
“Milo was in a nearby kennel. He did nudge him and lick his ears. I noticed he was still and he drew back and his ears went down and he went back into his kennel and curled up. I think at that time he knew his brother was not going to come back," Alosio said. Milo stayed on his anti-seizure medications for three weeks.
Once home and heartbroken, Alosio started searching in her backyard to see if she could find what Tobi could have gotten into. She thought maybe a mushroom or other poisonous plant. She thought maybe another small animal had eaten rat poison or snail bait, then crawled into her yard and Tobi had bitten it.
Instead, she found several balls that she describes looking like meatballs, with a blue coating.
“I did a google lens. I took a picture of the meatballs and just a massive amount of information was being poured toward me about toxic meatballs. All these cases, not even locally but within the United States and worldwide. About how these people create these toxic meatballs and place them in dog parks or wherever they want to get rid of these animals," she said.
Alosio kept researching and contacted a doctor at UC Davis with a connection to The San Diego Humane Society. She sent the doctor the balls. She received confirmation of her worst fear.
The balls had Strychnine in them. Strychnine is commonly used as a rat poison.
“For me that was a shock because I realized that these may have been planted here on purpose, specifically to kill an animal and I suspected to kill my dogs," Alosio said.
Alosio called the San Diego Police Department but they pointed her to the San Diego Humane Society. She filed a report and on April 24, they assigned an officer to her case.
Milo now wears a mesh muzzle when he goes outside. When he’s inside, he lays for long periods of time where his brother Tobi would have been.
Alosio says her youngest daughter picked Tobi out specifically. Her daughter is traumatized by what she saw, losing her beloved Tobi, and she’s scared now that she knows he was poisoned in their own yard.
"To lose more than just a pet but truly a family member that got us through some really hard times, it's devastating beyond words," Alosio said.
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