A HEARTBROKEN family were forced to put their dog to sleep after it ate rat poisoning which is believed to have been scattered in a popular park.

Francesca Camp and her partner Bobby Loveday have sobbed every day since losing their two-year-old Staffie Beau, who owners believe possibly ate the deadly substance in Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park, in Rochford. 

Despite their best efforts, vets could do no more for Beau when it was discovered she had suffered a heart attack and her organs were failing.

Francesca, 26, from Rochford, said: “She’s usually a perfectly healthy and happy little dog who is full of energy, so when she started to get really tired on her walk at the park we thought it was just heat stroke and took her home.

“Things only started to get worse. She was coming in and out of consciousness, had vomiting, diarrhoea, couldn’t walk and her heart rate had slowed.

“We rang the vets who thought it was likely to be sun stroke too and told us to keep an eye on her, but she was deteriorating quickly.

“We rushed her to Medivet in Southend who found that her blood had gone black where the poison had made her body shut down - she’d had a heart attack and her kidney and organs started to fail.

“There was nothing else they could do for her so we decided that instead of prolonging the pain, we had to let her go. We said goodbye Sunday evening.”

The family are hoping to warn fellow dog owners before walking their pets in the area.

Francesca added: “We wouldn’t want anyone else to feel the unbearable pain that we have and want to stop any other dog from going through this horrific ordeal. We had her since she was born. Beau was from a litter of eight and we’ve still got her mum who won’t eat or get out of bed unless it’s to go to the door to look for her baby.

“She was absolutely inseparable from our five-year-old, who will be heartbroken when we tell him that she’s gone.

“There’s no other way to describe it but inhumane. I can’t imagine why anybody on this earth would want to leave poison around like this; it’s evil and malicious.

“We would urge dog owners to muzzle their babies before taking them out, as they could pick up anything and you just don’t know.

“We’ve lost our best friend and feel like we’ve also been poisoned without her in our lives. Just seeing her empty bowl in the kitchen is breaking our hearts.”

At present, it has not been confirmed whether poison has been scattered in Cherry Orchard Jubilee Country Park. Rochford Council have had no confirmation of the incident and would urge the dog owner to contact them with any concerns they may have.