The ASPCA is probing whether four dogs that all mysteriously died after being walked in Riverside Park were poisoned.
The dogs had the same symptoms — seizures and foaming at the mouth — within a few days of each other in July, said one of the devastated owners.
“For a totally healthy dog to slip away like that in horrible fashion, it was like losing a family member,” said Matthew Wood, whose French Bulldog, Tugs (pictured), died less 12 hours after walking in the park.
Wood’s girlfriend, Emily Picard, walked Tugs at 7:30 a.m. before the two left for work. When Wood returned at 6 p.m., the 6-year-old dog was clearly ill.
“He was in pretty bad shape,” Wood told The Post.
Wood initially thought Tugs was just anxious, so he took him for a walk, but the dog suffered a seizure.
“People assumed it was heat stroke because it was pretty hot,” Wood said. People were pouring water on him.” But Tugs soon died.
Days later, Wood saw a sign his neighbor Kim Heismann posted, warning pet owners to avoid Riverside Park. Her dog and her roommate’s dog had both died after walking in the park. Wood said a dog belonging to a woman on the block also died.