A Wokingham woman is urging dog owners to be vigilant following an incident where her pet ingested drugs – thought to be cannabis.
Jenny contacted Wokingham Today to highlight her concerns following a recent walk at Rooks Nest on Barkham Ride.
She said: “I took my dogs to Rooks Nest on Barkham Ride for their daily walk.
“They had a great time, even though there were no other dog walkers there.
“Now I realise why people don’t walk there anymore.
“It has become a drug den.”
She said after the walk, her dog Hugo, a four-year-old Springer/Labrador cross, began to act strangely.
“He was swaying and salivating profusely, and he also started to wet himself uncontrollably.
His eyes were like saucers.
“We immediately took him to Nine Mile Ride vets.
“When I had told them I had been to Rooks Nest, they knew it was almost certainly a drug of some kind.
“They told me that they had several recent cases of dogs coming in from Rooks Nest and Simons Woods with drug intakes.”
After remaining at the surgery on a drip and being closely monitored, Hugo was allowed home.
Jenny said: “It has taken a few days for him to get back to normal, but thankfully he is now fine.
“It has left us quite fearful of where to go for our dog walks.
“It seems that a lot of our parks and woods have this kind of anti-social behaviour going on.
“I want to warn dog owners of the symptoms of drug ingestion, which can include drowsiness, nausea, drooling, incontinence, swaying and displaying large pupils.
“If you get to the vets quickly, they can induce vomiting, otherwise they will need in-house treatment.
For us that cost £1,090 which is a lot of money, but at least Hugo is now getting better.”
Jenny said she had informed Wokingham Borough Council and Thames Valley Police about this issue.
“The council said they will try to get more police awareness in these areas, but I think more needs to be done, like cameras or signs, to warn people.”
She added that since highlighting her experiences on local social media groups, she has been contacted by other dog walkers who have endured similar experiences.
Cllr Jordan Montgomery, executive member for environment and climate emergency, told Wokingham Today: “I’m so sorry to hear about the poorly dog.
“Our parks and green spaces are for everyone to enjoy and we want them to be safe spaces.
“We are not aware of any pattern of persistent drug dealing or use at Rooks Nest Wood, nor have we had reports of dogs ingesting drugs picked up there, though we have seen something about this on social media.
“We regularly patrol and litter-pick the car parks at our nature parks, and we will continue to do so.
“We are not aware of a particular problem at Rooks Nest Wood, however we have asked the police to increase their patrols.”
