The Cook County animal control department plans to run tests on more than a dozen animals, including two dogs found within 100 feet of each other in an area of an Illinois forest reserve.
Lionel Trepanier told the Chicago Sun-Times that he first came across the macabre scene on March 5. The animals were in a heavily wooded area and none had a visible injury, but half were bleeding from the nose or mouth.
Trepanier, an environmental activist and former secretary of the Illinois Green Party, said he believes the animals may have been poisoned. Trepanier thinks more animals might have died in the same area, but had already been eaten by scavengers.
The Illinois animal poison control center is monitoring the situation.
All these animals collected in one place. . . . When we get the toxic report, we'll find out if its rabies, or if its toxin, or something else, Forest Preserve spokesman Steve Mayberry told the Sun-Times.
Cook County Forest Preserve police recovered the animal bodies after Trepanier called in the find. The countys animal control department plans to run tests on the bodies later this week.
Posted: April 4, 2006, 5 a.m. EST