By Khalida Sarwari
A popular dog park in San Jose has been closed because of an incident in which a small dog began having seizures and died after visiting the park on Saturday.
San Jose resident Jennifer Tian took her dog, a Shiba Inu, to play at Butcher Dog Park on Saturday afternoon.
The dog was playing normally but then suddenly began vomiting and suffering seizures, Animal Care and Services deputy director Jon Cicirelli said.
Tian took the dog to a veterinarian, who suspected the dog might have been poisoned, Cicirelli said.
Animal Care and Services is investigating the dog’s death to determine whether it was indeed a poisoning.
A necropsy was scheduled for today and the official results could take anywhere from one to three weeks. Preliminary results, however, will be available in about a day, Cicirelli said.
Mona Favorite-Hill, a spokeswoman for the San Jose Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services Department, said that in the meantime, the park would remain closed as a precaution.
“We are doing our best to ensure that the park is safe, so we are asking residents to be patient as we go through process,” Favorite-Hill said.
Cicirelli said the death appears to be an isolated incident, but that if necropsy results show the dog was poisoned, the park will remain closed until the toxin is located.