Urgent warning after dog died from ingesting ‘toxic substance’ on a beach
AN URGENT warning has been issued after a dog died from eating a “toxic substance” on a beach.
Dog owner Lucy Beswick came across a deadly substance while walking her pooch Nellie on Newgale beach, Pembrokeshire.
The three-year-old Maltese Poodle fell seriously ill after eating “lethal toxins” of a black substance left on the sand.
Lucy said vets believe the black substance could have been palm oil.
The recruitment consultant, from Hertfordshire, was visiting her sister when they took Nellie for a walk to the beach.
She said: “We were walking together on the shoreline and I noticed she was very attracted to this round object which looked like a crustacean.
“It was dark in colour, like a fifty pence piece-size and there were about three or four of them together. She smelt it and decided to eat one.
“I was trying to prize it out of her mouth, because I didn’t know what it was.”
After seven hours Nellie went into a coma and her owner had to make the difficult decision to turn her life support machine off on June 5.
“She was my everything,” she said.
Palm oil is not harmful to humans but it can be fatal to pets if ingested in large quantities.
Now authorities warn pet owners to be on the lookout as it has also been spotted 15 miles away at Marloes beach.
A Pembrokeshire council spokesman urged people “to be vigilant to the potential harm of palm oil washing ashore”.
They added: “Beach users are advised to keep dogs on leads and keep away from the substance.”
It is often seen in dark, yellowish or white waxy blocks with a similar smell to diesel.
Lucy has now set a petition to ban toxic oil on UK coastlines after losing her dog left her “absolutely devastated”.
It comes as another owner warned of deadly algae after a dog died less than 45 minutes after coming into contact with it.
Jan Egginton lost her beloved two-year-old Flat Coated Retriever, Cove at the side of Wimbleball Lake on Exmoor.