07/11/2024
In Loving Memory of Honey 🐾💔
Today, we honour the memory of Honey, a beloved family member whose life was tragically and cruelly taken by 1080 poison. Her devastating loss serves as a heartbreaking reminder of the traumatic and indiscriminate nature of this cruel toxin.
Their guardian shares their painful experience:
"We live close to a national park at the end of our street, the 2nd property, but don't go in the park for that reason. We think a bird or small animal may have taken the bait and died on our property. My husband earlier in the day took our two girls for a run on our property, and we think our dear Honey must have picked up something. She often would fall behind, being a Staffy, and Maggie, the cross Malinois, needs that extra running and exercise, although they were both very fit and healthy.
I took them on the back fenced lawn area around 5 pm so they could play fetch and tug rope. I noticed Honey's legs looked a little shaky, like weak, and I was thinking she'd run too much on the morning run, though I had never seen this before, as she was in top condition. She was 7 last October when she died. We got Honey from a rescue at 18 months old; she was a beautiful Staffy-Ridgeback with the most loving temperament I have ever seen in a dog. A year later, we got her a puppy; she adored Maggie, and they were inseparable. Looking back now, even in her pain, she would not pass up the chance to play tug with Maggie.
Around 10 pm at night, we heard this blood-curdling yelp. We raced outside, and Honey was screaming, yelping, and frantically running, going absolutely crazy, zooming past us. We couldn't catch her and were terrified she'd attack us if we did. We were calling her, and she was screaming, yelping as she kept running around us and under the bushes. She ran past us and suddenly fell over on her side; she was dead. It took about 10 minutes from the first time she yelped.
Maggie and I sat beside her for an hour, stroking her, just sobbing. I put a blanket over her and took Maggie inside, as we thought it was a snake bite. In the morning, I picked every rose in the garden, a laundry basket full to the top. I had laid half in the grave, my hubby placed her in, and I placed the other half of the roses on top. We then filled the hole and just sobbed.
Maggie was spoiled with love from Honey and us, being a puppy, so she's really not likely to want another dog; she'd be jealous of us patting Honey. So we will just have Maggie. Had it been the other way around, I could have got Honey 100 puppies, and she'd still want more. She loved all animals and smothered particularly smaller animals. She would mother all our hand-reared lambs, sleeping with them and tending to them.
As I say, she was incredible. I have tears rolling down as I remember and write this. I feel guilty at times because I cry often over Honey, more than beloved family members. I think not because she was so loved, because she was, but because of the horrific way her life ended; she didn't deserve that, no animal deserves that, and this is why this horrific evil must be stopped!
After reading about 1080, I now believe it was that. I threw her toys and their tug rope in the bin because of how lethal it is; even one drop, and it's tasteless. I felt terrible doing that to Maggie, removing and binning everything Honey had touched. It was a hot night, and they were on their outside beds, so that had to go. Their inside bed beside the fire, Honey hadn't touched that day, so I was able to rescue that blanket for Mags to have some sort of comfort".
No animal should die the way Honey did - screaming in terror and pain, beyond the help of those who loved her most. Her story is not just a tragedy; it's a call to action that has mobilized over 23,000 Australians to demand change.
Every day we delay action, more families face the horror of watching their beloved pets suffer this cruel fate. Every signature brings us closer to banning this lethal toxin that continues to claim innocent lives like Honey's.
🙏 Honour Honey's memory. Add your voice to the thousands demanding change.
📝 Sign now: ban1080.org.au/petition/apvma-review
