Alexandria pet owners on high alert as sausages stuffed with fishhooks show up on sidewalks
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Pet owners in Alexandria beware — someone is stuffing sausages with fishhooks and leaving them on the ground.
"I asked myself ‘What on earth is this world coming to?’" said Sarah Eberhardt after her dog Potatoe's scary experience.
Eberhardt and her mutt were taking a walk near Duke and Ingram Streets in Alexandria around 9:30 Friday morning.
Potato started gagging, after biting the sausage with a fishhook inside.
Fortunately, it fell out of his mouth.
Scared and upset, his owner found eight more pieces of sausage with hidden fishhooks in their neighborhood.
Eberhardt called police, and now Alexandria Animal Service officers are warning people to be careful when walking their dogs.
"I'm pretty freaked out. It's not a good feeling," Eberhardt said.
Tony Raskin, the CEO of the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, believes whoever did this was looking to cause harm.
"Why would you do something like this? Why would you try to potentially hurt someone's loved pet or even if it's not that, why would you try to injure wildlife in the area? There's only one reason to do this and that's to cause injury and mayhem," Raskin said.
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Police are asking neighbors with security cameras to check and see if they notice the suspect dropping the sausages on the sidewalk.
Meanwhile, Potato is home from the emergency animal hospital and is going to rest. His owner tells FOX 5 she will make sure she's careful when he’s getting his sniffles.