River dog Charlie may have been poisoned

Police suspect Charlie, a four-year-old springer spaniel, may have eaten poisoned food which was deliberately left by the river on the Railway cutting in Malling.

He fell ill and died within days of from lung and kidney failure .

A dead fox was also found in the area just days after Charlie's death. The animal's body has been taken away for tests by environmental health officers.

Charlie's distraught owner Colin Bassett, from Old Malling Way, wanted to warn other dog walkers to be careful.

He said: 'I took him for a walk along the river and the next day he seemed a bit under the weather.

'When we took him to the vets they thought he was just a bit ill but a few days later we took him back to the vets and they took some tests.

'That evening they called me to tell me to take him straight to the 24-hour vet's surgery in Brighton.

'Then two days later we had to have him put down.

'We can only guess what happened but it definitely seems as if it was a poison of some kind because he was only four and he was as fit as a fiddle.

'We get a lot of foxes there and suddenly they seemed to have disappeared.

'We don't want to accuse anyone but we want to make people aware there could be a problem there.'

Police Community Support Officer Alan Ash said: 'I've been told people have been leaving food here and a while ago we had a similar problem on Malling Down just behind the golf course.

'A couple of dogs and a cow were found dead there and we had to put up a lot of signs to warn people to keep their dogs on a lead.'

Charlie loved the water and could regularly be seen in the Ouse swimming all the way from Willey's Bridge to Harveys Brewery and was featured in the Sussex Express.