Questions after two pets killed: Poison blamed for pairs’ deaths

WARNING: This story contains disturbing content 

A Gisborne couple grieving the agonising deaths of their beloved cat and dog from poisoning still have questions as to how it happened. 

The animals – 1-year-old kitten Tootsy and 5-year-old rescue dog Okee – died within hours of each other two months ago after poison was used in “an unsafe or indiscriminate manner” in an urban environment. 

It has prompted a Gisborne District Council plea for more care when using poison in urban areas. 

Angela and Paul Stuart, who live in Lytton West, would like to believe the horrific deaths of Tootsy and Okee were from negligence, rather than a deliberate act. 

It was only two years ago that they nearly lost their cat Lola to a poisoning incident which killed three other neighbourhood cats. 

This time they were not so fortunate. On May 13, Angela noticed Tootsy was not in her normal spot on the bed  and went looking for her. 

“Tootsy was a bit special, a polydactyl, which meant she had six toes on each paw,” Angela said. 

She recalled hearing an awful noise in their backyard. 

“There was some ungodly type of howling. It didn’t sound like a cat.” 

Angela put on her phone light and saw Tootsy in a corner “in agony  ... screaming, crying and howling”. 

The Stuarts rushed her to the emergency vet but despite being stabilised, Tootsy died the next morning. 

Angela and Paul checked their backyard for anything that might have carried poison and disposed of the vomit they could find. 

They then let Okee and their other two cats — Charlie and Lola — outside. 

“But we must’ve missed something,” Angela said. 

“In the morning Okee went out with his dog walk group but later that day around 3pm you could tell something was terribly wrong with him.” 

The poison was starting to take effect. 

“He started to vomit, fit and have a psychotic episode. 

“He was howling, shrieking and running from a demon he couldn’t see, smashing himself at full speed against gates and fences. He was absolutely terrified  ...  just horrendous.” 

They raced him to the vet where Okee’s body temperature was so high it started to cook his internal organs. 

“They tried to bring the temperature down and got him semi-stabilised,” Angela said. But within two hours, Okee died. 

To this day, the couple still has many questions. 

“The vets said the poison in this case did not present like a common domestic poison — like rat bait, snail bait or antifreeze,” Angela said. 

“Plus, all those domestic baits have dyes in them, so you can see from their vomit if they’ve consumed it  ...  there was no colour or sign of any dyes in their vomit or excrement. 

“It was not something domestically available and should not have been used in an urban area. Whatever it was, it acted quickly and it was more likely a direct poisoning rather than secondary from eating a dead animal,” she said. 

Angela and Paul have been over it many times in their heads. 

“Whatever it was, it was transportable so a child could have picked it up.  

“The only way Okee got it is if Tootsy brought it into the yard. 

“Unless someone deliberately threw poison into our property but we prefer not to think someone would be so evil, we think it was negligence — not a deliberate targeted act.” 

Phillip Karaitiana, Gisborne District Council biosecurity team leader, emphasised the importance of informing neighbours when using poison.  

“Please make sure you use bait feeders/stations that exclude pets and children from direct bait contact and secure them at set locations wherever possible,” he said. 

“Using rat traps is an alternative option to laying poison, and trap types can vary from kill traps to small live capture cage traps. 

  “This story is a terrible reminder of what can happen in an urban environment when poison is used in an unsafe or indiscriminate manner.”