Woman says her dog became ill after someone left meat patties laced with pills, pellets at Va. park

There is a serious warning for Arlington residents as someone may be intentionally trying to harm pets at a popular park.

"For me, it's a sick psychopath or something like that," said Natascha Weber. "I have no idea why somebody would do something like that."

If Weber not been able to get her dog, Yoko, to the animal hospital quickly enough Thursday morning, the Turkish rescue may not be here today. Both of Weber's dogs were wading in the water at Bluemont Park in Arlington when Yoko climbed on the rocks and began to eat something. It turns out someone had laid out a trail of raw meat patties stuffed with dozens of pills and pellets.

"Then I realized there were patties everywhere," Weber said. "I said this is definitely not normal and that is why I put her away, we are running to our car, and then [went] right away to the animal hospital."

The veterinarian had to make Yoko vomit to get everything out of her stomach and stated it could have been fatal.

"The vet said what she vomited, she said there was green stuff in there and she said the green stuff actually looked like rat poison," said Weber. "We have three kids and we have those two dogs and they are absolutely full family members. It would be absolutely devastating if something happened to [Yoko]."

Fortunately, the 6-year-old dog seems to be recovering just fine. But the person who laced the patties is still out there.

While it is alarming for local dog owners, Weber is concerned that this could have affected somebody's child.

"All those colorful pills and stuff, kids are attracted by those too," said Weber. "Kids also like playing in the water."

Weber has filed a police report and spoke with the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. They asked her to help them collect the rest of the patties. She has given it to them for lab testing.

Last year in Arlington, FOX 5 reported at least two dogs became sick after eating meat stuffed with caffeine pills. In those cases, the meat was left on sidewalks, which is about a 10-minute drive away from this latest incident.

"The lady from the animal welfare who picked it up this morning said this looked different than the caffeine pills," Weber said.

The Animal Welfare League of Arlington said it will take several days to get the test results back.