IN the past few weeks my dog Max has been poisoned twice. Once on Pear Tree Hill and once on Roundway Hill. Max was with my wife on the first occasion. He was off his lead and went to investigate a badger sett. My wife saw that he was overly interested in the sett and appeared to be eating something, so she pulled him away. That night Max was violently sick several times. The next day he had an appalling case of diarrhoea.
Last Thursday I was on Roundway Hill with Max, again he was off his lead. He appeared to be very interested in something in the bushes and began to eat it. I quickly snatched him away. He had something in his mouth and kept trying to swallow it rather than let me get my hands on it. 
I took Max back to my van, but before doing that I removed the poisoned meat and put it in the bin by the White Horse so that other dogs wouldn’t eat it, then I returned home. I told my wife what had happened and she rushed Max off to the vets while I returned to the hill to collect a specimen to show the vet. 
I explained to the vet what had happened and insisted that they retained the meat in case there was a need to have it analysed. Max was a bit off colour for the rest of the day, and I was £40 short which I would like to reclaim from the culprit when I find out who it was.
There were three lumps of poisoned meat in the bushes at the Plantation. They consisted of cooked meat and skin wrapped together around bones about four inches long. I failed to identify the animal that the bones came from, but Max tells me they were delicious! I am very familiar with Roundway Hill. I believe I know it as well as anyone. 
To the best of my knowledge there are no badger setts in The Plantation. The only badger setts that I am aware of are in The Covret a couple of hundred yards away. That is not to say that badgers wouldn’t roam in The Plantation for food.
I trust that the culprit or culprits will soon be discovered. Meanwhile I would advise all dog walkers to keep their dogs on a lead when walking on these two hills, and be aware that at least one poisoner is on the loose in mid-Wiltshire, and your dogs are in danger of being poisoned.
PETER FLETCHER
Kempsfield
Devizes