(HK) Poisoner dogs pet-mad Hong Kong

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Poisoner dogs pet-mad Hong Kong

AFP

November 30, 2007

 

For nearly two decades a serial killer has terrorised one of Hong Kong's most

affluent residential areas, motive and identity remaining a mystery.

 

The infamous Bowen Road Poisoner has claimed dozens of lives, his - or her -

most recent victim dying just weeks ago after eating meat laced with a lethal

dose of insecticide.

 

Lethal, that is, to the pet dogs who are the target of this elusive killer.

 

The poisoner's name derives from a tree-lined street popular with dog walkers

where many of the victims have died.

 

And the killer's modus operandi - laying down poisoned meat at the side of the

road - has allowed whoever it is to go undetected since 1989.

 

The latest victim, a chocolate-brown mongrel adopted from Hong Kong's dog

rescuers, died within 30 minutes of eating poisoned meat as her owners took her

for an early-morning walk on Bowen Road.

 

Police figures show there have been 72 reported poisonings in the area since

1989, 44 of them fatal, although vets here believe many more such incidents

might have gone unreported.

 

Earlier this year, one Hong Kong dog lover decided enough was enough.

 

Local resident and dog owner Barry Lea pledged 50,000 Hong Kong dollars ($7260)

of his own money to allow Hong Kong's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals (SPCA) to double its long-standing reward for information leading to the

poisoner's arrest.

 

Lea, a former police officer, said he was inspired to act after the death of two

Labrador-poodle crosses being trained to work as care dogs.

 

" I'm a dog lover and I have a Labrador retriever who's a trained search and

rescue dog. Why anyone would want to see her dying an agonising death is beyond

me, " he says.

 

" (The case) is in the hands of regional crime units, who usually deal with

serious crime. But so far they've not been able to track the culprit down, and

it will be money well spent if they do. "

 

The pledge has injected new life into the SPCA's campaign to raise awareness of

the poisonings among dog owners.

 

The organisation says it has switched the focus of its campaign to public

education as the poisoner continues to evade police.

 

SPCA Chief Superintendent Tony Ho, a retired police officer, leads a team of

people who regularly patrol the four kilometres of Bowen Road, and nearby

Black's Link, handing out leaflets and talking to walkers.

 

" We are trying to educate the dog owners to control their dogs and by telling

them what they should do if they suspect the dog may have consumed poison, " he

says.

 

" But we also talk to the other road users. We try to explain to them that if

they're not happy about the animals they shouldn't put the blame on the animals,

it's the owners' fault. "

 

Ho says the patrols have uncovered high levels of anti-dog sentiment in this

traditionally pet-loving city.

 

He believes there may be some ill-feeling, particularly among older people,

about dogs fouling the street near sacred spots such as Lover's Rock, where

unmarried women go to pray for a husband, in this deeply superstitious city.

 

" You do get copycat crimes and it's very difficult to say whether it's one

person doing this, or more. There are people who don't like dogs.

 

" All we can do is do our very best and continue to send our men up more than

once a day, and the police are doing almost the same. Trouble is we can't do it

for 24 hours, it's a very long stretch of road, " he admits.

 

Lea believes the poisoner has been " either very clever or very lucky, or a

combination of both " to be able to evade detection for so long, while continuing

to lay down bait on the popular street.

 

" The area spreads over several kilometres and while it's a well trodden path

there are lots of twists and turns and there are times when it's pretty quiet, "

he says.

 

There have been frequent complaints that Hong Kong police do not take the

killings seriously enough, although the force has devoted considerable resources

to the case, at one point drafting in a Swedish pet specialist to profile the

killer.

 

Lea, a long-term Hong Kong resident, fears the poisonings are now beginning to

harm the city's image.

 

" It's been going on for a very long time now, far too long, and a lot of animals

have been killed or injured, " he says.

 

" But it goes further than the killing of innocent creatures. The Australian

Chamber of Commerce recently published an article on living in Hong Kong that

included a warning about the dog poisoner.

 

" When you get that kind of thing it starts to reflect quite badly on the place

as a whole. "

 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/unusual-tales/hong-kong-poisoner-on-20year-pet-killin\

g-spree/2007/11/30/1196037125142.html?page=2

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Hong Kong's dog murderer on the loose, 18 years later

By Samuel Abt

International Herald Tribune

May 6, 2007

 

HONG KONG: Some people like dogs, some don't. Prominent among those who do not

is the person (man? woman? loner? part of a team?) who has been poisoning dogs

in Hong Kong since 1989, killing 22 of them along a nearly five-kilometer

stretch named Bowen Road in the Mid-Levels section of the city.

 

The death toll and its starting date were furnished by the SPCA, which is

offering a reward of 30,000 Hong Kong dollars, or $3,800, for information about

the killer. A spokeswoman for the society said the police should answer all

other questions.

 

The police are not saying much. " The motive of dog poisoning is still under

detailed investigation, " they responded to questions. " Police appeal to members

of the public to provide more information. "

 

It is easy to understand the police appeal for assistance. Eighteen years is a

long time for a case to remain not only open but also ongoing.

 

Coco and Tiki, two-year-old labrapoodle sisters, were the most recent fatalities

attributed to the Mid-Levels Dog Poisoner or the Bowen Road Dog Poisoner, as he

- for the sake of convenience - is alternately known in the newspapers and in

conversation.

 

Not that there is much conversation about the killer in Hong Kong.

 

Because most of its seven million residents live in small apartments, they tend

to favor birds as pets. Stray dogs are almost never seen, and there are few

stores with windows full of puppies.

 

For those high on the economic ladder, though, dogs can be popular. HK Magazine

recently estimated that the pet industry here is worth 1 billion dollars a year.

 

Driving the industry are such dog items as a Gucci collar and matching leash for

4,370 dollars each, a Burberry trench coat starting at 1,750 dollars, depending

on the dog's size, birthday cakes from 2,000 dollars to 3,000 dollars at the Dog

One Life café, and grooming, including Dead Sea mud packs, for 300 dollars to

1,000 dollars.

 

In all, according to the organizers of the Hong Kong International Pet Accessory

Show, 300 dollars to 400 dollars are spent per dog per month.

 

For 800 dollars a session, Master Ngan of the Kei Lun Crystal Metaphysics

Society will even read a dog's psyche. He told HK Magazine that business was

booming.

 

The sort of people who are eager to probe their pet's psyche favor trophy dogs

like the recently deceased labrapoodles, a cross, unlikely as it seems, between

a Labrador retriever and a poodle.

 

Those sort of people often live in the Mid-Levels, starting partway up the hill

that leads to Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island. Running west-east through some

of the area is Bowen Road, which is about 3 miles long. It is not a major

thoroughfare but a narrow street without much traffic and therefore is favored

by joggers, people out for a stroll and especially those walking their dogs.

 

They do not walk mutts. Anybody out on a saunter down Bowen Road on a recent

weekday afternoon would have seen three golden retrievers, a couple of French

poodles and a German shepherd. All were on leashes.

 

This was in line with posters along the road: " Dog Lovers, " it read, " Our 2

beautiful labrapoodles were poisoned along Bowen Road on 19th February 2007.

They died within the hour. Leash your loved ones up. " (The date was puzzling

since the police and The South China Morning Post reported that the poisoning

took place on March 19.)

 

At its start in the west, off Magazine Gap Road, Bowen Road passes luxury

high-rise buildings. They offer a splendid view of Victoria Harbor and Kowloon

across the water. Apartments are expensive - one with two small bedrooms, real

estate agents say, should start at about 30,000 dollars a month to rent, 15

million to 20 million dollars to buy.

 

Even at that price, life still has its perils. A sign warns, " Flash floods -

stay away, " where the street meets the bottom of the hillside, designated a

" slope " and bearing a plaque with a number. Water does run down from the Peak,

as a couple of streams along the route proved.

 

The bottom of the slopes, alongside the street, is where the Mid-Levels Dog

Poisoner leaves his fatal bait.

 

Except for a few taxis and a couple of motorcycle policemen out on patrol, Bowen

Road this day was occupied mainly by joggers and street sweepers clearing away

fallen leaves from the jungle above the slopes. More than halfway along the

road's length the reason became clear: Bowen Road turns into a " Fitness Trail "

more than a kilometer long with 10 stations including vertical ladder, balance

beam and equipment for pull-ups, sit-ups and stretching.

 

Many small signs marked the start of the trail. All warned of the Mid-Levels Dog

Poisoner. An alert dated November 2005 from Regional Crime Unit 3A of the police

detailed his modus operandi: " either meat or chicken laced with poison, usually

a purple-colored powder, left in the undergrowth along the road. "

 

" The most prevalent times of attack have been Thursday and Friday, usually

toward the end of the month, " it added.

 

A reward of 50,000 dollars was on offer, expiring in July 2006. The Happy Valley

police had also issued a warning, as had the SPCA. A multitude of other signs

pointed out different dangers: Beware of dog; No feeding of cats, pigeons or

other wild birds; To avoid avian flu, don't touch birds.

 

Like most everything else in the Mid-Levels, Bowen Road was spiffy.

 

Blue rubbish bins with a recess for cigarette butts dotted the trail. So did

orange dog litter boxes warning of a 1,500-dollar fine for anybody who did not

clean up after a pet. The notice was written in Chinese, English and Tagalog for

the thousands of young Filipino women who work here as maids.

 

Down a slight gradient the road ran, offering views of Hong Kong off to the left

and the occasional small ancestor worship shrine with its stand of incense

sticks. The underbrush revealed mauve flowers and a stone marker that said City

Boundary 1903, but no poisoned bait.

 

All in all, it was an unexceptional street. Why had the poisoner chosen Bowen

Road?

 

Perhaps it was a political statement: Take that, you Mid-Levels swine with your

Rolexes and BMWs! Unable to steal their watches or cars, he killed their dogs.

 

Perhaps it was the remoteness of the site and its lack of traffic, which limited

witnesses while he spread his lure.

 

Or perhaps it was a simple reason, the same one Willie Sutton gave to explain

why he robbed banks: That's where the money is. Bowen Road is where the dogs

are.

 

If the Mid-Levels Dog Poisoner is ever caught, he may turn out to be just one

more person, however violent, who simply does not like dogs. Some people don't.

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/06/news/dogs.php

...........................

[Following is an article from 2002]

 

The Killer Among Us

By NEIL GOUGH

Time Magazine

Monday, Mar. 18, 2002

 

The 12-character message, spray-painted in red and composed in Chinese, is

chilling: The time has not yet come/ Not that there will be no vengeance/ Evil

deeds bring evil ends.

 

The threatening graffito discovered late January on a concrete wall along Hong

Kong's Bowen Road is the latest twist in a bizarre string of poisonings that has

terrorized the city for 13 years. The leafy pedestrian walk running through the

affluent Mid-Levels neighborhood is the epicenter of a spree that has claimed

over 20 dead and made at least 100 seriously ill. Despite community uproar,

heightened police patrols and the aid of an international expert, the killer's

trail remains cold. A key reason, say critics, is that the victims are dogs.

 

Details have emerged slowly. Although the poisonings began in 1989, it wasn't

until 1995 that police took notice. Soon it became clear they were dealing with

a calculating serial killer, a Jack the Ripper of the canine world. That's why

Chief Inspector Richard Skinner thinks the recent scrawling is a hoax, the work

of a copycat. Skinner believes the real killer is not a publicity seeker, but

someone wreaking methodical revenge on specific targets. " I don't think it's a

lunatic just walking around wanting to kill dogs for the sake of it, " Skinner

says. " The person doing it believes it is for a purpose. "

 

The death the killer delivers is gruesome. The poison - a few spoonfuls of

purple crystal granules of carbofuran, an insecticide, mixed with chicken or

duck meat - acts fast, attacking the nervous system much like sarin gas. In

minutes, the dogs are drooling and their muscles begin to twitch. Within an

hour, they are violently convulsing. If the poison cannot be expunged, they die

of shock and respiratory failure. " They are absolutely frantic, " says

veterinarian Lloyd Kenda. " I'd rather never see another case again. "

 

As the killer's toll rises, so do demands for justice. The pets of rich, poor,

Chinese and Westerners have all been victims, and in a city not known for

community activism, public outrage toward the faceless killer has been vented in

letters to newspaper editors, community meetings and Internet chat rooms. Dog

owners, represented by the SPCA, are the most disgruntled about the lack of

police progress. Executive director Chris Hanselman wants to form a group to

patrol the area. " I hate to use the term vigilante, " he says. " We want to catch

him and put him away. "

 

Not that the police want anything less, but they say they need a witness who

could make a positive ID. In 1995 they almost had one. Around 6 a.m. on a clear

spring day, lawyer Jonathan Midgely was walking his two dogs in the Bowen Road

vicinity when he saw a Chinese man in his mid-30s scattering food. The man had

thinning hair brushed forward and an unusually round face, wore blue cotton work

clothes and spoke passable English. The two men exchanged greetings. The man was

" a bit strange, " Midgely says, " not ominously strange, just as if he were a bit

wacky. " He carried a red plastic bag containing a trowel and bits of chicken

that he claimed were for feeding the birds and dogs.

 

Minutes after they parted, one of Midgely's dogs, Ruth, started to shake and

vomit. Luckily, he got her to a vet in time. Although Ruth's poisoning wasn't

the first reported, police judged the case a low priority. That changed two

years later when Whisky, one of then Governor Chris Patten's Norfolk terriers,

was poisoned (but survived). Police belatedly called Midgely in to help with a

composite sketch of the suspect and later had him try to spot the man among

passersby on Bowen Road.

 

The serial dog poisonings have become a topic of obsessive speculation. Last

year, Hong Kong University sociology postgraduates used the case in a criminal

behavior course. Even a Swedish animal law expert, Helena Striwing, has become

involved. She suggests the killer's target is not dogs. " He wants to hurt

people, " she says. " He is motivated to target and hurt the dog owners for some

reason, to create misery. " To that end, police offer a more prosaic premise.

According to Skinner, the killer is likely annoyed by dog droppings along the

footpath. " It's more probably a revenge thing, " he says. " Basically, the

rationale would be: 'If you're going to foul the path, then I'm going to kill

the dogs.' "

 

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501020325-218370,00.html