Swampscott rat traps eyed in dog’s death empty of poison

SWAMPSCOTT – Manuel daRocha of Guardian IPM Pest Control believes it was unlikely that Ron Beckett’s dog died after ingesting rat poison from a broken trap at the Humphrey Street Fish House, but he admits it’s not inconceivable.”There was no poison in any of the traps,” said daRocha, whose company is responsible for laying down the rat traps. “Could it happen? Absolutely, but we followed protocol.”Beckett’s 3-year-old miniature dachshund died Tuesday and a necropsy pointed to rat poison as the cause. Beckett said Wednesday that the only place he can think of that his dog, Calvin, could have come into contact with rat poison was at the town-owned Fish House, where there was a small pile of rat traps, one of which was completely broken open.Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta, caretaker of the Fish House, said he learned about the incident Thursday morning and called daRocha immediately.”I told him I thought we might have a problem,” Cresta said.According to daRocha’s record, traps were set around the Fish House just about one year ago on March 6, 2012. The bait, a small green square, is set into the box on skewers that hold it in place inside the box and a lid is snapped into place, daRocha explained. He said the boxes are then weighted with a flat stone so they stay in place and don’t migrate.”Unless there is a huge storm surge,” Cresta said.Cresta said he suspects the traps were scattered about during recent storms and someone collected them into one pile.daRocha said a strong storm surge could have dislodged the boxes, but he doesn’t believe it would have opened one. It takes a small, wide, plastic key to open the boxes, said daRocha, pointing to just such a key on his key chain. He said the boxes could be pried open, but it takes a lot of work, which is why he became concerned when he heard one of the traps was topless.In photos taken Wednesday, five traps were lined up, relatively neatly, near the sidewalk on the east side of the Fish House and one was clearly missing its lid. But Cresta said when he and daRocha went to examine the rat traps Thursday there were only four; the broken trap was gone.”That’s not good,” daRocha said. “That’s tampering with placement.”It was the broken trap that concerned Beckett as well, but daRocha said he opened the remaining traps and none contained “rodenticide,” which left him no reason to believe the missing trap contained any either.DaRocha said he does not re-bait on a set schedule; he only refills them as needed.”If I don’t need to put poison down, I don’t,” he said. “If there is a problem they call me back, and there hasn’t been a problem.”Cresta said he hasn’t received any complaints of rats in or around the Fish House in a long time.Although he doesn’t believe the trap contains bait, daRocha said he still needs it to be returned. He needs to file a report with the state and needs the broken trap and a copy of Calvin’s toxicology report to put with it.Both Cresta and daRocha are hoping it was merely a good Samaritan who recognized the trap might be a danger and disposed of it, and if they did they need to contact Cresta at 781-596-8860 or daRocha at 978-500-9868.Both Cresta and daRocha also offered Beckett, who could not be reached Thursday, their condolences.”I’m sorry it happened,” Cresta said.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].