LIVE OAK, Calif. - In a quiet Live Oak neighborhood, neighbors are going at it, but it's not over what you would think. Jim Danaher said his 4 year old dog, Maxwell, died from being poisoned, by his neighbor.
"We rushed him down to the vet. The vet suspected anti-freeze right away. We assured the vet that it couldn't be, we don't keep anti-freeze around. She kept him for some tests and determined positively he had been exposed. He had to be put down that night," said Jim.
The next day Jim looked around his neighborhood and found a large amount of anti-freeze at his neighbors barn house. He quickly cleaned it up. 12 days later, Jim said more dogs got sick, his other dog Fox was sick for over a month. Costing him $2,200.00 in vet fees. He decided to file a claim in small claims court against Dan Kidd, the landlord.
Kidd said the whole thing is "preposterous." He allows his tenants to have dogs and loves dogs himself.
When it comes to disposing chemicals like anti-freeze, its important to remember to look at the back of the bottle, where it gives you instructions on how to dispose of the chemical safely without causing harm to anyone.
Jim Danaher said Kidd didn't do that, but dumped it somewhere Maxwell could get to. Kidd said he doesn't even know where the anti-freeze could have come from. And said there is no evidence he put it there. But Jim thinks 3 sick dogs and 1 dead dog is evidence enough.
"Its easy to poison but hard to prove," said Jim.
