On 30th December, the life of sweet Milo was taken away. His owner, Graziana Gerada, announced the death of her dog Milo, of the Chow Chow breed, after smelling or consuming rat/snail poison in the Marsaskala dog park which is a place which is supposedly safe for dogs. In this blessed country, even our dogs are frustrated. We have been banned from many beaches and once at the beach, our dogs have to be continuously on the leash. Then you go to dog friendly beaches and you still find some members of the public who have a problem with the presence of your dog there. They yell at you, and look at you as if you are an alien. We do not have open spaces, parks, and big stretches of land where we can take our dogs for long walks off the leash, in the same way that other countries have. Our dogs are frustrated as much as we are. And then you take your dog to a dog park, and he dies because of a heartless, demonized person who scattered poison in there!!
Many people shared their disgust and anger about Milo’s death, spreading the news on Facebook. Actress Josette Mazzonello wrote on her on Facebook, “How can they spread mouse venom in a dog park? What ignorance we still live in and if they did it on purpose … there is no monster more than you.”
Here is a posthumous and heartbreaking post of his owner, Graziana Gerada:
[Since today is a new year, I would like to leave this message to that person who threw snail poison in the park and killed my dog. I don’t wish you harm, but I would like to bring before your eyes what you did with this cruel act: You killed a dog whose actions he had to suffer for more than twelve hours until he burst from the inside. A dog that left love and joy everywhere he went. A dog that filled a house. You destroyed a woman physically and even more mentally, because for me this dog was my life and was my daily calmer. With his strength I didn’t have to take a pill but you put me in that state again. And the fact that you took him away from me, you have now put me in a more aggravated state. You destroyed a man from going to work to earn daily bread for the family, and you also broke him because he used to groom him, and take him to the shows where he became a Junior Champion when he was only one year old, and now he has only trophies and memories left. You destroyed a boy who broke his heart when he saw him stretched lifeless on the stretcher, and who is now seeing his mother in this state. You destroyed the other dogs we have at home who are still waiting for him every second when they don’t know what happened to him. Our upcoming wedding will not be the same without him with us. You destroyed us all. You destroyed my family, uncles, cousins and friends. You should bring all this before your eyes only, you and whoever thinks of doing something cruel like this.]
I will not only help the owner for justice to be done for Milo and hopefully the perpetrator is caught, but I will be helping all those who are going to make sure that Milo’s death was not in vain.
We will be putting pressure on the government to ban or regulate the over-the-counter selling of rat and snail poison and any other harmful substance whatsoever. This country seems to hate snails too and considering that the Maltese and all the foreign residents love this country so much, they leave it ‘sparkle with cleanliness’ wherever they go which keeps rats and mice away.
Their are natural repellants for snail and slugs which are made by spraying a mixture of garlic or coffee grounds with water. Gardeners also use certain plants like garlic, lawn chamomile and chives to repel them as these have a deterrent effect when planted alongside or used to make an extract. Natural ingredients like pepper, peppermint oil, and cayenne pepper are effective repellents for mice.
When is the Labour government going to regulate or better, ban, the over-the-counter sale of all types of poison to anyone, which are being spread in various places [I have also seen it in plant pots in Valletta] so that the public is protected? Or don’t animals count for the government? If it was a child, who curiously picked up some poison granules and put it in his mouth, and died, would it have mattered?
