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Pooch-Hater Tossing Splenda Packets Into Kew Gardens Dog Run, Owners Warn

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | March 17, 2017 10:46am | Updated on March 20, 2017 8:00am
 Kew Gardens dog owner say that someone intentionally throws Splenda packets into their local dog run to hurt their pooches.
Kew Gardens dog owner say that someone intentionally throws Splenda packets into their local dog run to hurt their pooches.
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DNAinfo/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska/Andi Jompole

QUEENS — Kew Gardens dog owners are on edge because someone has been repeatedly throwing packets of artificial sweetener Splenda into their local dog run, possibly trying to hurt their pooches, they said.

“There has been multiple sightings of someone throwing Splenda packets in the Forest Park Barking Lot," dog owners posted on the run's Facebook page,  adding that they needed "the dog park community to come together and help catch the perpetrators." 

Some food products can be extremely toxic, or even fatal, to dogs, like another artificial sweetener Xylitol, which can be found in chewing gum, some baked goods, mints and chocolate bars.

Splenda, experts say, is less likely to cause harm, but could still trigger intestinal distress.

"Splenda in minimal amounts — a few packets — is not toxic to dogs,” said Dr. Tina Wismer, the medical director of the ASPCA's animal poison control center. But she also noted that “several cups of the sugar substitute could cause vomiting and diarrhea."

The 9,000-square-foot dog run, known as the "Forest Park Barking Lot," was created last June near the Overlook, and is used daily by at least 100 dogs, the owners said.

“This needs to stop!,” the post written last week also read. “The park is to be a safe place for our dogs to play and have fun! Not for them to go and get sick and die there!”

Local dog owner Phil Ruvelas said those coming to the "Forest Park Barking Lot" also received an email from the group alerting them about the issue.

"It came up recently and they've been wanting people to watch for it," he said.

Dog owners said it’s not the first time that someone in the neighborhood has tried to hurt their pooches.

“One dog several months ago was poisoned with rat poison,” said Esta-Joy Sydell, a Kew Gardens resident who takes her pooch to the dog run on a regular basis.

“We are not exactly sure where it came from,” she said, adding that the incident occurred near Austin Street and Lefferts Boulevard.

Sydell said that local dog owners have reasons to be worried because there are people in the neighborhood who seem to be openly hostile towards dogs.

Last week, she said, she was walking a couple of dogs for someone when she heard a man saying: “Boy do I hate dogs.”

“He purposely said it so I’d hear him,” she said. "I do believe that there are people who are either crazy or just mean and that’s what they do."