NBC – A Bernalillo County man let his family's best friend out to run around in the yard, and less than 12 hours later, 10-year-old Bonnie, the shepherd mix, was dead. But it's what the man found in his yard that now has the whole neighborhood worried.
Nick Wahl was horrified when he saw what likely caused Bonnie's sickness: a container of hot dogs soaked in antifreeze. Now, he's asking who would poison his dog and other neighbors are rethinking the past two years, as similar things have happened to them.
"Ask any 'tough guy' and they'll tell you animals all the way over people," Wahl said Thursday.
He has even more reason to feel that way now, after Bonnie had to be put down because she was poisoned.
"She started throwing up hot dogs and we don't have hot dogs in the house," Wahl recounted.
Hours after that, Bonnie was dead after being put down because of her kidney failure, which made his discovery of the container all the worse.
At the back of his property, steps away from an irrigation ditch and pathway, Wahl found the container. The veterinarian confirmed the hot dogs Bonnie ate were laced with antifreeze.
When Wahl got home from the vet, he wanted to warn his neighbors with dogs about what had happened. But what he found from those conversations was even more troubling.
Wahl said several of the people who live nearby told him their dogs have suddenly fallen ill and died over the past few years as well. Now, many people in the neighborhood wonder if they have a repeat dog-poisoner on their hands.
Wahl said he doesn't believe the culprit was anyone he knows. He has no ties to anyone who would do such a thing and says his neighbors don't either.