Police in Colorado are investigating after, they say, a family’s pooches were sickened by methamphetamine-laced hot dogs placed in their backyard going back months.
Investigators believe someone is targeting the pets in the incidents dating to November, Broomfield police said on Facebook. On two of those occasions, the dogs ingested the meth and became sick, police said.
Jillian Frank told NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver that the strange ordeal began when her mother, a vegetarian, found a hot dog on her patio in Broomfield, a city about 18 miles northwest of Denver, and “cracked it open.” It contained a crystal-like substance that police said later tested positive for meth.
Frank said the family at the time chalked it up to a random case of animal cruelty.
“She has no enemies or conflict. She doesn’t have any neighbor conflicts,” Frank said of her mother. “We just kind of assumed this was a random, malicious act of animal cruelty.”
But things escalated not too long afterward.
A second incident was reported roughly a month later, on Dec. 26. Frank said she took her dog, Gable, to the vet after she noticed him acting strangely after he’d eaten something from the yard.
“He won’t stop circling, he won’t stop panting, he won’t lay down,” Frank recalled. A test came back positive for meth, she said.
Police said the most recent incident happened March 22. This time it involved Frank’s sister, Annalyn, and her dog, Murray.
Annalyn Frank said she took Murray to the vet after she noticed him “just spinning in circles and foaming at the mouth.” A urinary test came back positive for meth and the psychedelic MDMA, she said.
Neither the family nor police know why anyone would want to target the dogs. The ordeal has prompted the family to install security cameras around the home, along with high netting along the fence.
The sisters said their mom now plans to move out.
“This was finally her safe space, and it’s just been ripped away from her for no reason,” Jillian Frank said.