A Leeds woman has pleaded with students to watch where they dispose of drugs after her dog became ill from eating cannabis.
Classical singing student Jane Burnell, 23, was left distraught after realising her pet spaniel Joey had eaten some cannabis off the ground while on a walk in Hyde Park on Monday.
A few hours after consuming the drug Joey became lethargic, disorientated and unable to walk straight.
The spaniel’s hind legs started to go lame and his eyes became bloodshot.
Jane said: “It was heart-breaking seeing him not understand what’s going on.
“You could see that he knew he was feeling a bit different, but he didn’t really know what to do about it.
“At one point he sat down in the kitchen watching me make dinner and his whole head would start falling to one side, then once that happened his whole body would go.
“It was just really sad to see that my partner and I couldn’t really do anything. We just had to wait it out and thankfully Joey was all better the next morning.”
Hyde Park is one of the most popular locations for students to live in Leeds.
The wider area is also a hotspot for drug consumption – class A substances can be ordered and delivered in under 30 minutes.
Posting on a Facebook group for students living in Leeds, Jane said: “Please please be aware of leaving anything containing drugs on the floor in the park!
“So many dogs walk there and other animals live around there.
“It can be incredibly toxic for dogs to consume weed in any quantity.”
Jane’s post received more than 600 likes and 40 comments from students.
One woman commented: “A similar thing happened with my spaniel, hope he’s okay.”
Another student said: “So glad he’s feeling better.
“It worries me every time I leave the house with mine as she’s awful for eating bits off the floor.
“All the glass everywhere around Leeds is also becoming a bit of a nightmare.”
Jane said: “My post on the Leeds student Facebook group wasn’t a prejudiced thing against students or anything – but it is more likely that it could’ve been a student who accidentally left something behind without really thinking.
“If you don’t have dogs you might not really realise something like this could happen.”