Over the summer, a slew of dogs fell ill after visiting Santa Clara’s Nuevo Dog Park. In late July, one of those dogs died. 

In response, the city closed the park, located at Ryder Street and La Rambla Avenue, “as a precautionary measure,” adding that the city is “taking these concerns seriously.”

Prior to the closing, for a couple months, the city received “multiple” reports of dogs falling ill after visiting the park, according to a city statement. The health and safety of Santa Clara residents, including their pets, is a “top priority.”

In response to reports of the dog illnesses, the city launched a “thorough environmental assessment.” The city doesn’t use pesticides in its dog parks, according to city documents, and all are regularly cleaned with pet-and-eco-friendly products.

However, that investigation has been ongoing for more than four months, with no updates or conclusions. Further, what the city is doing to re-open the park remains opaque. 

Shortly after the park’s closing, The Weekly submitted a records request for correspondence within City Hall relating to the park’s closing. Those records didn’t substantively illuminate the situation.

Contained in them was a resident complaint. The complainant suspected the illnesses were a result of “intentional dog poisonings.” The complainant didn’t specify why they suspected this.

The city’s response said such a suspicion is difficult to prove, so it was “unable to conduct an investigation.”

“Acts of poisoning are very difficult to investigate without more irrefutable proof, such as finding the actual poison at the dog park, catching a culprit in the act, or veterinary records from all involved parties that can definitely point to a particular toxin in common,” wrote Peter Andersen, care specialist with the city.

Nothing in the correspondence indicates city employees sought vet records related to the illnesses or were scouring the park for evidence of poisoning.

A separate records request to Santa Clara County revealed Los Angeles County employees sought insight into the Nuevo Dog Park’s closure because the situation mirrored one there. Santa Clara County’s records revealed that LA County contacted the City of Santa Clara, but the city never shared that communication in response to The Weekly’s records request.

The Weekly has learned that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health led a multi-agency investigation into reports that dogs that recently visited the areas surrounding Venice Canals fell sick and died

In September, the LA public health department released a report on the situation.

Concerned residents and pet owners first notified the public health department on July 28 — the same week residents notified Santa Clara of dog illnesses, according to the report. 

Between June 6 and Aug. 11, 27 dogs that visited the canals fell ill. Five of them died. Of those cases, 74% occurred between July 17 and July 30. Symptoms included vomiting, diarrhea, tremors, seizures, and lethargy — signs of toxin exposure.

During a site visit, a strange odor prompted Los Angeles County public health officials to test the algae. That analysis revealed the algae to be toxic. The report concluded that algae clearing efforts during the time of the exposure had left small amounts of the toxic algae on the sidewalk.

“This may have provided an opportunity for dogs to be exposed through direct consumption or walking through the material and later consuming it when licking their paws,” according to the report.

Although the report was unable to establish a causal link between the toxic algae and the dog illnesses and deaths, the timeline coincided with reports. Ongoing testing revealed the algae was no longer toxic. 

The Nuevo Dog Park is in Council Member Albert Gonzalez’s district.

“Hopefully, nobody is poisoning dogs, because you want to have a safe park,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine someone poisoning a dog.”

Gonzalez said he is “frustrated” with how long it is taking to reopen the park. Several residents have contacted him about the closure, he said, but he added that he understands that the city has to “take care of basics.” He excused the prolonged closure on city employees’ workload, adding that the city needs to ensure it can “do it safely.”

In a follow-up text message, Gonzalez wrote “there wasn’t anything found.” He wrote the park would reopen after the report is made public, but he gave no indication as to when the city would make the supposed report available. The delay, he wrote, was to make the report “easier to read for the public.”

The city encourages residents with questions or concerns regarding city-operated dog parks to call the dog park hotline at (408) 615-3144 or submit a report through the MySantaClara app.

Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com 

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