The Island Bay Dog Poisoner

Between 1969 and 1974 dozens of Island Bay dogs were poisoned with strychnine.  Most died.  Many of the dogs were loose in the street; others were at their homes.  No one was ever prosecuted for the crimes, despite a lengthy and exacting police investigation, but this article reveals for the first time how close the police were to proving a case against the poisoner, and reveals the probable reason the poisonings stopped abruptly.   

In 1969, dogs lived a significantly more free life than they are able to do today.  Owners routinely “let the dog out for a run”, and wandering dogs could be found at any time on almost any street.  Usually, they did no harm, except for the inevitable underfoot hazards which remained a notable part of Island Bay life until the recent imposition of far stricter dog control laws. 

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, children might be accompanied to the school bus by their pets, which then walked home, only to meet them again after school.  Dogs sometimes formed loose packs, normally benign, and each had its own list of friends and enemies – some of whom, of course, were cats.  Sometimes, newspapers reported dogs that were seriously destructive or dangerous, attacking poultry, or Owhiro Bay sheep. In  Karori, a pack of dangerous dogs was reported, frightening children.  In Lyall Bay, a dog smashed its way into a large aviary, killing those birds that did not escape.  On Mt Victoria a “large pack of dogs” menaced several small children before adults were able to drive them off.  But these dog behaviours were seen as aberrant, and not a reason to harden up restrictions on all dogs. Attitudes were relaxed even towards those dogs  that attacked people.  In 1973 a woman  from Derwent Street whose dog bit a constable was charged by police with “being the owner of a dog not under proper control”.  The judge, hearing evidence that the dog “played happily in the neighbourhood”, decided that there would be no conviction if it behaved itself for 6 months.

Somewhere near Island Bay's Moselle Street, however, was a resident who had developed some form of deep malevolence towards dogs.  How long this attitude had been developing is unknown.  Whether it arose from pathological obsession, or calculating hatred, will never be known.  What we do know is that the Island Bay Dog Poisoner, as he or she came to be known, was able to strike unnoticed, and in a systematic way that left several dogs dead each time the poison was laid.  

The first attack was on Friday 12 September 1969.  From the poisoner's point of view it was a dramatic success.  Five dogs died, and three others were poisoned but survived.  Fish containing strychnine was found near several homes of dog owners and inside the fenced yard of another. The owner of one of the dead dogs, Miss Linda Patterson, of The Parade,  reported that her “dog came into the house on Friday morning looking as if it was going to collapse, and shortly after it did collapse on the neighbour's lawn. The dog kept having fits in the car on the way to the vet and died on the vet's table.”

Two weeks later, another dog was killed: “a mongrel owned by an elderly couple in Thames Street.  The dog found its way home, frothing at the mouth and breathing heavily. It then collapsed and died.”

The Wellington Branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) offered a reward of $50 on 27 September for information, but none was forthcoming.  The poisoner laid low for October, November, and the first days of December.  Then, starting on 12 December, a further 9 dogs were poisoned over several days.  The police optimistically suggested the latest poisonings could produce new and important evidence, but all that was seen publicly was a new litany of tragic pet death stories in The Evening Post.  

By this time the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research ( DSIR) was involved, confirming one case as strychnine poisoning.  

The lethal dose of strychnine for dogs is 0.5 - 1.2mg per kilo of body weight, suggesting that perhaps 2 teaspoons would be needed to kill a small dog. A poisoned animal will show symptoms within 10 minutes to 2 hours of eating the poison.  High doses result in rapid onset of severe muscle spasms or convulsions.  The neck arches back and the jaw clamps shut in intermittent or continuous episodes.  Breathing is impaired.  Extreme body heat is caused by tremors and seizures.  Stiff, extended limbs are common in later stages. Death can happen within as little as 10 minutes or as long as 48 hours. 

Jim Clouston of Moselle Street and his son, Andrew Clouston of Rhine Street, lost dogs to the poisoner. Early one morning at the weekend Jim Clouston went to put his dog, five-year-old female whippet Sally, in the car for a walk at the beach. As he stopped to open the gate he noted the dog was eating something.  He did not think much of it but when he got to the beach Sally would not leave the car so Mr Clouston drove home. Sally began convulsing and eventually collapsed. She was taken to the vet and died the next morning. The vet said it was obvious she had eaten a substantial dose of strychnine. This, of course, led Andrew Clouston to take special care of his labrador, Kipper, who was 3 years old, and “a favourite of the children in the area”. He was allowed out into the backyard. “Shortly afterwards he was put in the family car for a drive, but when a family member reopened the car door, Kipper fell out, not dead but ‘as stiff as a board’.” Mr Clouston massaged his chest and he began to breath easier. He drove the dog to the vet “but he died on the table within 15 minutes of us noticing he was ill”. 

At the time Andrew Clouston thought the bait must have been placed in his backyard: “I didn't see him eat anything when he was released in the backyard, but that must have been when he found the poisoned bait. He was with us every minute of the time before that,” he told The Evening Post reporter.  But 40 years later, Mr Clouston wonders if the poisoner actually fed Kipper a poisoned bait while he waited in the car.  The window was left open, and he hadn't been let out.

Helen Neale (née Clouston) has clear memories of the impact the poisoner's work had on her, and others in Island Bay:

“I had grown up with Sally as our family pet. A whippet was a most unusual breed back then. They make great pets and good watch dogs. It was my job to walk Sally before school. Invariably the two of us would make our way down Derwent St through Shorland Park to the beach.  I would stop en route through the park and have a swing for a few minutes and then head off to the beach.  Because of the speed of a whippet it was always a challenge for me to watch her run. I would wait until she was not watching and I would climb onto the concrete wall along the beach front. I would call her and then jump over the wall and down onto the beach. In a flash she would be down the steps and the two of us would be sprinting as if in Olympic training. She loved it. The sand was perfect for this as it was soft on the pads on her feet. The game would continue until it was time to head home for school.

“I was high school age when she was poisoned and remember telling my Mother: 'look at the dog'. Sally was tied on a long rope to her kennel in our back yard as usual but was on the ground convulsing. Mother quickly replied that I should stay inside. Sally was probably one of the first dogs to be poisoned and our thinking was perhaps more of the possibility of rabies. Mother did not want me getting bitten. Over the years I have thought back and can still see my playmate in between convulsions looking pleadingly at the house as if to say ‘help me’. It is a dreadful way to die.

“Friends knew of someone with a year-old golden labrador. The woman was entering dental school and she had to live in a hostel. No pets were allowed and she was distressed about who she would have to give her dog to. Monty found a new home with us and we quickly became the best of mates. It did not have to be said: there was no way my new found friend was leaving our property without being on a leash. We had a gate and it was kept shut. Again, I have young teenage memories of walking Monty before school - down to the beach, walking the length of Island Bay to the golf links and, at the weekends perhaps around to Houghton Bay and back. 

“Again poison laid in our own property took another family pet.

“Who was this person? How did they have access to such a poison? Who did they work with and were fellow workers ever suspicious of poison going missing? Did they live alone that such strong feelings about dogs were left to fester to the point of this type of action? Did they ever consider the children these pets belonged to? Have they lived since with a feeling of satisfaction of their actions? Did the 'Poisoner' realise what a game of Russian roulette they were playing? If a child had picked up any piece of bait, even to just handle it and then put their fingers in their mouth - I dread to think.”

In another incident, Mr A Shearer, of Tiber Street, found his 2 - year old dog Kim poisoned.  Kim had been brought from Paraparaumu only the night before to replace a victim of the September poisonings. This time Mr Shearer was more lucky, as it appears from newspaper reports that Kim survived.

Then, just as before, the poisonings stopped.  The school holidays came and went, and then, in early March, the killings began again.  Poison was laid at the bottom of Severn Street.  A cocker spaniel, and a golden labrador died on March 5.  A dachshund was also poisoned, and The Evening Post reported it being critically ill and not expected to live.  

A fourth dog, Duke, was poisoned but survived.  He was the pet of the Imlach family, of Severn Street.  Mrs Sonia Imlach told how the dog would go every day with her son Nicky to the bus stop, and then amble home.  

“He had his breakfast on the back porch about 8.30.  Then he went to the bus stop with Nicky as usual.  I was away until 10am and found him on the porch, his legs rather weak.  At first I didn't suspect anything was really wrong.” Ten minutes later, Duke came into the hall, lay down and could not get up.  “He's a big dog and I had to half carry him and half push him on to his feet.” Mrs Imlach had to carry Duke down the front steps and then place him on the back seat of her car.

“It was then that he had his first convulsion,” she said.  “It was horrible.”  Fortunately a neighbour stopped by with a van and the two of them lifted Duke into the back and rushed him to the veterinary surgeon.  Duke was treated in time and was back home last evening, but still very weak from his experience.  Mrs Imlach's sister, Mrs Nicolas, who lived nearby, found some poisoned meat left on her house steps.  It had been carefully cut up and left in a pile, just two or three steps up from the footpath.”

(Duke was later to survive another poisoning, and died, suddenly, in the street in 1972.  But he was muzzled in case he again found poison, and police did not think his sudden death resulted from a new poisoning.)

In midwinter, 1970, the Clouston family of Moselle Street lost a third dog: 15-year-old Helen Clouston's  year-old Labrador, Monty. He had been bought to replace the whippet killed in March. He was never allowed off the property unless on a leash and because of the earlier loss, the property's gate was always kept shut. Helen's brother said she had let Monty off his chain about 6am. He played around the backyard for about 5 minutes and Helen noticed he didn't look very well. “She rang me straight away and I went around, but Monty died before I could get there. It couldn't have taken more than 20 minutes.”

In the same spate of poisonings, a dog was found dead on the street, and another  recovered from a critical state.  A further dog, Caesar, a labrador-alsatian cross owned by Mr John Tannahill's family in Milne Terrace, was released for a run from his home while Mrs Tannahill took her car to collect her children from school about 3pm.  He was discovered some time later in the driveway in severe spasm.  He died 12 hours later.

In mid-October 1970, no fewer than seven dogs died after being poisoned.  Several baits of cooked sausage were picked up by a local constable, S G Gilmour.  Police arranged for radio stations to broadcast warning messages, advising parents to tell their children not to handle the bait and to wash their hands if they did.  Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) detectives were called in to work on the case alongside uniformed police, and went house-to-house looking for information.  The file on the case was, however, not transferred to the CIB until much later.

Mr N Richardson, of Robertson Street had walked his spaniel-cross dog on a lead to Happy Valley Road and along the beach at Owhiro Bay before 9pm.  When he returned home the dog appeared ill, spasms started and 30 minutes later it died.  Mr T G Bridge of Mersey Street found his black and white collie puppy dead on the front lawn of his enclosed section at about 6am.  At the same time, Hugh Roberts found his black labrador dead inside his Derwent Street property.  Mr A H Howell, of Travencore Street, found his dog dead on his back lawn about 7am after it had been let out for a run.  Dead dogs were found in Clyde Street, Beach Street and Severn Street.

From newspaper reports it appears there were no more poisonings reported until a few months later, in early 1971.  At least one dog died in February, and another, Kim, a 7-month-old puppy belonging to the Morris family of Derwent Street was poisoned but survived.  Kim died 6 weeks later in an attack that killed another dog and left another in critical condition. 

For the first time the police began speculating publicly about the possible profile of the person responsible.  They do not appear to have thought that more than one person was involved.  

“The Island Bay dog poisoner is probably a single person living in Derwent, Humber or Moselle Streets in Island Bay ... police today issued a description of the person's possible nature ... expert opinion sought by police suggests that the poisoner is a single person, or living alone, perhaps middle-aged or older.  The person is possibly sadistically-minded and even eccentric, police feel.”

Kim's owner, Mrs E V Morris, said people in the southern Island Bay area were looking suspiciously at each other following the outbreak, and every “odd” person in the area was secretly accused of being the poisoner.  Andrew Clouston recalls that “The longer it went on everyone started looking at everyone - but I don’t really believe that anyone in fact knew who it was.”

Perhaps because of this, police changed their message: “We're advancing no proposition about the sex, age, or marital status of the person responsible, and are continuing with quite general inquiries.”  

No one appears to have publicly expressed support for the poisoner, but one newspaper correspondent, G Shultz, sought to lay some blame for the situation on dog owners, and lax enforcement of the dog laws:

Sir, - Surely Mr S F Jackson of the Wellington SPCA is aware that by the number of dogs poisoned there is a serious problem of uncontrolled dogs in Island Bay? Although I don't agree with the method used I suggest this person has been driven to this extreme by the nuisance created by these dogs.  There wouldn't be many people who would stand dogs barking at night.  There is a simple answer to this problem. Let the police and council compel those inconsiderate dog-owners to keep their monsters under control as stated in the council by-laws.

Meanwhile, rewards totaling $400 were being offered for the conviction of the poisoner, and an Evening Post editorial appealed for the poisonings to stop: