Reward offered in dog-poisoning case

SANDPOINT — The Humane Society of the United States is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those behind the fatal poisoning of two dogs on the south side earlier this year.

The beloved pets were discovered poisoned on Jan. 30 on South Euclid Avenue.

The dogs — a 2-year-old Labrador retriever/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix named Scooby and a 6-year-old Pomeranian called Chloe — were owned by Carrie and Frank Corallino.

“They were good dogs. It’s not like they were running the neighborhood,” said Carrie Corallino.

She said she returned to her former home on Euclid on the day in question and found Scooby was having uncontrollable seizures and struggling to breathe. They rushed Scooby to the vet, but it was too late.

“He died in my lap en route to the vet,” she said.

The couple then realized Chloe had been unaccounted for during the episode and raced home to check on her. They inspected the dog’s favorite hiding places and discovered her under a bed.

It’s believed the 7-pound Pomeranian had been dead for several hours.

The abrupt demise of two healthy, well cared for pets raised suspicions and a vet recommended autopsies be performed. The postmortem examination discovered chunks of raw meat and pellets of what appeared strychnine.

The dogs’ stomach contents and tissue samples underwent a more stringent analysis by the University of Idaho, which confirmed Scooby and Chloe were killed by large doses of the deadly alkaloid.

Carrie Corallino said she and her husband have since moved to another home as a result of the incident. She suspects the dogs encountered the poison in the fenced yard they were kept in.

“Whoever is responsible for this incident is clearly mentally unstable,” Lisa Kauffman, Idaho state director of the Humane Society, said in a statement announcing the reward.

Kauffman said using any poison to kill an animal, especially one as lethal as strychnine, displays an astonishing level of cruelty.

“These were two beloved family pets that went through hours of intense pain and fear before dying a horrible death. Their owners are devastated — these dogs were like children to them and we need to prosecute the responsible party so this never happens again,” she said.

n Those with information about the poisoning incident are asked to call Sandpoint police Officer Mark Ogg at 263-3188.