Athens woman arrested for poisoning neighbor's dogs

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WTVM 9

ATHENS, Ga. Police in Athens have arrested a woman who is accused of killing a neighbor's dog with food tainted with antifreeze and causing another dog to become sick.

Authorities arrested Rosa Marie Daniel Tuesday on animal cruelty charges.

Police say the 58-year-old Daniel poisoned the neighbor's dogs by lacing fish with antifreeze.

The first dog -- a springer spaniel named Allison -- died in January. A neighbor found the fish in the dog owner's backyard. A University of Georgia chemist found it was contaminated with antifreeze.

Neighbors suspected Daniel might be involved in the dog's poisoning because she made it known she "hated" animals, yet kept containers of food in her yard, according to Athens-Clarke police Detective Rebecca Taft.

Taft said Daniel logged about 45 complaints to Athens-Clarke Animal Control and police over the past three years.

After the first dog died, a neighbor took one of the containers and gave it to police. A chemist found it contained fish that had been tainted with antifreeze, Taft said.

Officers were called to the neighbor's home Friday after another dog, a mix-breed Labrador retriever named Samson, became ill, possibly after eating food in Daniel's yard, police said.

Police searched Daniel's house that afternoon and seized containers of food for a chemist to test. They also seized two containers of antifreeze, one from a storage shed and another from a bathroom.

Daniel was booked into Clarke County Jail on a felony animal cruelty charge for Allison's death and a misdemeanor cruelty charge for allegedly making the other dog sick.