A dog owner had to pull her pet away at the last moment as it was about to eat dog food that had been 'deliberately laced' with rusty screws and sharp metal.
Emma Pulford, 31, from Gateacre, said she spotted the food that had been left on the corner of Halewood Road and Orient Drive on March 27.
The adult support worker was taking her two-year-old rescue dog, Sooty, and her seven-year-old dachshund Benny for a walk when Sooty started pulling at his lead.
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Emma said: "It was literally at the end of my road. One of my dogs, Sooty, he's a rescue and he'll eat any kind of food.
"He pulled me over to it - that was the only reason I saw it."
Emma said Sooty was about to devour the food when she managed to stop him at the last second.
She said: "I thought 'oh god, somebody's put dog food out'. But then more I looked and saw all the bits in it.
"It was obviously deliberate, it wasn't accidental. It was mixed in well and hidden. Bits of metal and rusty screws.
"He's daft as brush and he probably would have eaten it if I hadn't have pulled him back!"
She added: "I took them home and came back and picked it all up. It was about a carrier bag's worth of c***."
Emma said the food had been placed in an overgrown grassy area so was well hidden from public view.
She later posted up on Facebook to warn other dog owners about the disturbing find.
She said: "When I posted the pictures, someone commented about foxes being in the area.
"Now I've seen about two in all my years of living there so I couldn't have seen why they would have done it, and it was typical kibble dog food.
"It's not like there's a lot of dog mess there, but if you were to walk around that area then a lot of people have made hand made signs saying clean up your dog mess.
"I don't know if somebody had enough one day and decided to do that."
Emma said she now checks the area every day to make sure no more food had been deliberately left to harm any other dog.
She added: "I think it's disgusting and shocking to be honest with you. Animals are the most innocent things in the world and to deliberately do that is just evil.
"Even if it was for the foxes it's totally unnecessary."
