I spotted this on my walk this morning.

Sometimes I see strange things when I walk my dogs.  Most of the time, the things I see are benign.  I’ve seen discarded bras, half empty bottles of Jack Daniels, abandoned children’s desks, kids sucking face… even someone’s glasses.  This morning, I saw something very strange and kind of frightening.

Pictured above, perched atop the “Robidog”, which is where we discard our dog crap, was a board with pieces of what appeared to be schnitzel.  There are two dead mice among the pieces of pork.

I don’t know if someone found this and put it on top of the poop can or if this was originally put on the can and the mice found it.  Either way, it was very creepy.

Unfortunately, there are people in Germany who put out poison.  The poison is usually intended to kill rodents, but some people also do it to kill or injure pets.  Regardless of the intention behind putting out Giftköder, it has potentially lethal consequences for animals.  If a pet eats the poison or manages to catch and kill a mouse that has eaten it, there’s a good chance the pet will become sick and even die.

It’s enough of a problem that there’s even a “radar” for tracking poisoned areas.  There are a bunch of fields near where I live and, yes, I’ve seen mice out there.  However, I’ve never seen any poisoned bait before today.

I posted the picture above on Facebook and my German friend, Susanne, was concerned enough to contact the police in Gäufelden, the village next to ours.  The police actually went out and found the dead mice, then contacted the police in Jettingen, which is the town where the above Robidog is.

I generally love the area where we are for walking the dogs.  There are lots of trails and other dog walkers are friendly.  But this business of dead rodents near what looks like poisoned bait gives me the creeps, especially since my dog Arran has a habit of eating mice.  More than once, he’s caught one while on his leash.  I don’t like being scared to walk my dogs, but a dog that eats a poisoned mouse can end up in trouble.

I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled in the meantime.  Hopefully, there aren’t a bunch of these little “gifts” spread throughout the area.