Owners of dog show participants can be interesting people. Anyone who’s seen Best in Show knows that. But could they be willing to kill another competitor?
Sadly, that’s what’s being investigated after Jagger, an Irish Setter who competed as Thendara Satisfaction, died shortly after Crufts, the UK’s premier dog show. Jagger collapsed and died at home in Belgium after returning from the show in Birmingham, England, and his food was found to have been laced with slug killer.
The only time Jagger was unattended and could have been poisoned was when he was on the stand for public viewing, his owners said – but they refused to believe that another competitor could have done such a thing.
“We can’t and we won’t think that this was the act of another exhibitor. If we thought this, we couldn’t go on, and the last 30 years would be a complete waste,” Dee Milligan Bott said on her Facebook page. “So I ask all of you to unite in finding the perpetrator who did this.”
Milligan Bott suspects that another dog she owns may have been the actual target — Thendara Pot Noodle was the winner of Best in Breed. The Kennel Club, which organizes Crufts, is waiting on the toxicology report before deciding how they want to proceed in an investigation.
“The facts surrounding Jagger’s sad death are still being established, and we must stress that any other unsubstantiated rumors about dogs being poisoned are just that,” the club said. “There are any number of reasons why a dog may display symptoms such as sickness. And should a dog fall sick, there are vets at the show who will examine the dog in question and file a report.”
No vets have raised concerns about poisoning at the show and “there have been no official complaints from any owners at Crufts 2015,” the club said.
The winner of the Best in Show title at Crufts wins 100 pounds, about $150. Hope it was worth it, dog-killing monsters.
Source: AP