Poor Jagger. Investigations are still under way into what killed the second-best Irish setter of his class at Crufts, but at this stage it looks as if somebody sewed several different types of poison into pieces of steak and surreptitiously fed them to him while he waited on his bench. It now seems other dogs may have been poisoned, too. To most people, it is hard to believe that anyone could care so much about grades of coat-glossiness and back-straightness, or so detest competitive breeding, that they would kill a healthy animal. (Although you might ask, in that case, why most people aren’t vegetarians.) Yet there has been skulduggery at pet shows since pet shows were invented. And rarely have past mysteries been solved.
The Senn spaniel poisonings, New York, 1895
During the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, the top event in the US, seven spaniels and a terrier belonging to Mrs F Senn were killed overnight with strychnine-laced meat. The malefactor, and his or her motive, was never revealed, but a culture of “bickering” and “jealousy” is described in the next day’s New York Times, as well as a previous campaign of “threatening letters”. The report even has precedents of its own to mention, including the case of a “famous bull terrier” being poisoned at a dog show in Manchester, England, in 1868.
Death at the National Mouse Club’s Spring Cup, Wolverhampton, 2004
Briefly, it was a major scandal, when news emerged that one club member had allegedly punched another during the Spring Cup, and that the victim’s prize-winning chocolate-and-tan mouse was later found dead. Strangled, according to some reports. In fact, the death was later put down to natural causes.
Alleged doberman drugging, Crufts, 2004
According to her owner, Clive Evans, only foul play could explain why his dog Kerri collapsed in the show ring in front of the judges. The animal was not killed, but Evans said the problem was widespread. “It’s just jealousy. These incidents have happened in the breed before, and we’re aware of what can go on … If I find out who has done it and I have got evidence,” he said, “then look out.”
Penmead Pride killing, Cornwall, 2010
In the world of budgie breeding, Penmead Pride was a star. Yet on the night before he was due to defend his title at the Cornwall Budgerigar Society Show, somebody stamped him and two other birds to death while in the act of stealing 21 outstanding specimens from his aviary. “Whoever took them knew what they were doing because they have taken the best of the best… then had the gall to kill my pride and joy,” said Penmead’s owner, Andrew Pooley.
Cruz poisoning, New York, 2013
It is just two years since an entrant at the Westminster Kennel Club suffered a fate similar to Jagger’s. Cruz was a healthy white samoyed, but shortly after competing at Westminster he died after apparently ingesting rat poison. Whether he stumbled upon some in a trap, or was fed it, was never shown.
