Dog treats laced with fishing hooks found

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Law enforcement officials are looking for the person who placed fishing hooks in dog treats and left them along the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in southeastern Pennsylvania.

On Sunday, a group of hikers found about a dozen dog treats laced with fishing hooks about an inch or more long, according to Dustin Stoner, information and education supervisor for the Pa. Game Commission’s southeast region.

The incident occurred near the North Trail Loop leading to a shelter, on State Game Lands 217, in Washington Township, Lehigh County.

“The presumption is these dog treats were placed with the intent for either wildlife or domestic pets, mainly dogs, to consume,” Stoner said in a telephone interview.

“At this point we don’t have anyone we are looking at for this, we don’t have any leads on individuals who might have placed these out there. So we don’t know what the actual intent or motive was or why they would have placed them. By the appearance of what we discovered, it’s somebody who is a disturbed individual who wanted to cause harm to wildlife or pets, someone’s dog,” Stoner said.

Wild animals like raccoons, opossums and larger animals could consume the treats and hooks.

“It would be a very torturous death for the animal that consumed them,” Stoner said.

While some fishermen use large baits for fish like catfishing, this incident appears to have nothing to do with angling.

“This was not an area where there would have been any fishing or anything like that. It was a pretty far distance from any creek, stream, pond or anything like that,” Stoner said.

When the hikers found them, they made a concerted effort to recover any additional treats.

When the Game Commission was alerted to the incident, several wardens also scoured the area looking to see if any more laced treats were left there.

“We didn’t find any additional ones,” Stoner said. “Hopefully all of these laced treats were found and removed from the landscape. The wardens placed advisements at the trailheads in the area.

Checking trail beyond Pa.

With the incident happening on a trail that spans from Georgia to Maine, the commission also advised the National Park Service and other law enforcement agencies about what happened.

“They didn’t share anything with regards to this being something that has happened at any other locations along the trail. We’re working under the presumption that it’s someone local who may have been day hiking, but we can’t say that with 100% certainty,” Stoner said. “We just don’t know.”

If anyone has any information about the incident or locates more findings, the agency asks people to call them at 1-888-PGC-WILD or 1-888-PGC-HUNT.

“It’s very disturbing to know that people would have such disregard for wildlife and dogs that may be walking with their owner up there,” Stoner said.

As of mid-day Tuesday, Stoner was not aware of any dogs or wildlife consuming any of the treats.

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at [email protected] and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website’s homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors, and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.