Oskar, a 7-year-old dachshund who ate poisoned meatballs that were left strewn about a San Francisco neighborhood earlier this month, has died.
His owner, Dorothy Schechte, said Oskar had a seizure minutes after consuming a meatball poisoned with strychnine. He was sickened and died Thursday of organ failure.
Schechter said the silence in her San Francisco home is heartbreaking.
"He would know when I came in either in front or in back," she said. "He'd bang against the door — I still wait to hear that."
Police said nearly 100 poisoned meatballs — apparently intended for local dogs — have been collected since July 3.
Animal Care and Control, along with police, posted warning signs in the San Francisco neighborhoods of Twin Peaks and Diamond Heights.
Authorities said testing reveals the meatballs are also lethal to humans. The Animal Legal Defense Fund is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in the case.
Schechter is eager to see an arrest so dog owners can relax and someone will be held responsible for Oskar's death.
"It's extremely important to show you can't get away with something like this and so Oskar didn't die in vain," she said. "I feel like my insides have been torn up because it was such a horrible way to go."