Silver Hills residents wary of suspicious pet deaths

Some believe poison is involved, but the Sheriff's Office says there is no evidence that someone is killing the animals.

[Times photo: Maurice Rivenbark]

Susan and John Trudell and their 10-month-old granddaughter, Haily Grasso, watch the family pets Monday afternoon. Susan Trudell and others in their Silver Hills neighborhood have noticed a suspicious pattern in the strange deaths of neighborhood pets.

BROOKSVILLE - Baby was buried in a makeshift grave here about three years ago.

The Rottweiler died on Christmas Day after she suffered a bout of vomiting and diarrhea.

Susan Trudell and her family did not think much of it, except that burying the family pet was a terrible way to celebrate the holiday.

Now, about a dozen animals - including five dogs and one pig - in the Silver Hills neighborhood have turned up sick and some have even died of the same symptoms Baby had suffered, Trudell said. Other pets have simply disappeared.

Residents fear the animals might have been poisoned, but the Sheriff's Office says there is no evidence to prove that.

By some accounts, the mysterious string of events began in earnest around Memorial Day or even before that. Residents, however, didn't call the Sheriff's Office until Oct. 20 to report the strange occurrences in the neighborhood located around State Street, west of Brooksville.

That was soon after a man walked up to Trudell and a small group at the bus stop and asked if they saw his missing cat. It was unlike his cat to wander off, he said.

Soon afterward, Trudell and her neighbors began to put the pieces together. Their pets had gotten sick and some had died.

One woman told authorities that on June 30, her Rottweiler, Keo, lumbered around her property, vomiting uncontrollably, a sheriff's report said. Keo survived. In January, her mixed breed dog, Star, died and one of her six cats disappeared.

Another neighbor reported that his female bulldog and her two puppies were fenced inside his yard when they suddenly began bleeding from both ends. They died.

That resident's Yorkshire pig also fell ill. Rather than see it suffer, he shot it, the report said.

A third neighbor said her cairn terrier, Shawn, was so sick it couldn't walk. She took it to a Brooksville veterinarian, who initially told her that Shawn appeared to be poisoned, the report said. He later told her that the dog may have suffered from a gastrointestinal problem.

But when a relative who lives next door told Shawn's owner that he lost two bulldogs, named Bo and Maverick, around Memorial Day, Silver Hills residents grew more concerned.

Residents think that someone might be poisoning their animals, but without a necropsy they can't prove it.

"It's pretty weird it happened to all of these people," said Trudell of her neighbors.

Located just a quarter-mile east of the Suncoast Parkway, Silver Hills is the type of neighborhood where people leave their doors unlocked out of habit. Paved roads quickly give way to limerock and dirt streets. A passing car ambling slowly down State Street leaves behind whiffs of chalky, white dust.

The bumpy roads branch out like veins from east to west and abruptly dead-end in patches of woods and flora. Ranch-style homes are decorated with U.S. flags and pumpkins for the approaching holiday.

Despite the outward calm, the normalcy of a crowing rooster and a lone barking dog, the neighborhood is fearful.

"I am not a person to panic," Trudell said, "but people are scared."

Many residents refuse to speak publicly for fear of retribution. But during interviews with a Times reporter, some used words like "weird" and "sick" to describe what has happened.

"The whole neighborhood is stressed that if this person reads the newspaper, he would freak out and do it again," Trudell said.

What's more, they fear that outsiders may not take them and their problem seriously. Reports that dogs are dying and cats are mysteriously disappearing may not demand the same attention as a prowler or car thief to local authorities. The Sheriff's Office has designated the case inactive because there are no suspects and no clues.

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Joseph Paez said what's going on doesn't surprise him much. He recalled a similar incident in Spring Hill about 20 years ago when three dogs died in quick succession in a subdivision off Linden Drive.

Residents had suspected it was the work of a disgruntled neighbor who may have crushed shards of glass into hamburger patties.

"They had their suspicions," Paez said. "Their suspicions were not enough to charge someone with something. You just don't know."

And so, the case was closed.

Paez said there is no telling if the Silver Hills mystery would suffer a similar fate, though it has caught the attention of Hernando County's Animal Services.

"With that number, I would definitely be suspicious because people will poison animals," said James Varn, the supervisor for Animal Services. "Over the last 20 years, we have had several of them. We have had our suspicions."

Varn knows that while it may be a mystery, it can be explained - somehow.

Parvo, an infection endemic to most animals, could be the cause, he explained. Coyotes are known predators of cats and pigs. Coral snakes and rattlesnakes are also prevalent in the area.

"It's hard to say what it could be," Varn said.

- Duane Bourne can be reached at 754-6114. Send e-mail to dbourne@sptimes.com

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