We have abominations in our community who are trying and succeeding, in some cases, to poison our dogs.

For anyone who has not heard yet, these ‘people’ are going in to OUR parks and baiting meat with poison. It is suspected that they poisoned a beautiful German Shepherd on Wythenshawe Park recently. Sadly, he subsequently died from internal bleeding. I have heard rumours that other dogs in the Timperley area have been poisoned also and have become unwell – I have not heard of any other deaths though.

The worry and pain they are causing is not quantifiable. They won't be working alone, bullies never do, they aren't brave enough to work alone, they may be male or female, or a mixture of both.

As a psychologist, I have made it my business to study bullies, because that is what they are – bullies. I have known and dealt with quite a few in my time, and so I know how bullies operate and why they do what they do.

They don't pick on anyone who they feel can defend themselves, they pick on only the vulnerable. Why? Because they think they can get away with it. It’s about power and control. They feel powerless in their own lives, so they try to take our power away from us. That strangely, is how they get their pleasure.

So this is my message to these particular abominations in our community: Hopefully, the police will be able to catch you and soon. But take heed of this - one day, one of you will not be able to resist bragging about it openly because you will feel proud of what you have done, won’t you? You thought you were targeting just dogs? – think again!! Our dogs are part of our families – you picked on every family that owns a dog.

You are not a part of our decent community.

There are many, many of us, and we will never forget this, we will not have you attempting to restrict our dogs’ lives or ours. We will be watching and listening and helping the police as much as possible. One day you will make a mistake, it’s just a question of time.

Christina Haslam,

Sale