A LOTTO winner has told how she spent her winnings trying to save her XL Bully after he was “poisoned”.
Anna-Marie Stevens, from Canvey in Essex, spent £13,342 on vet bills to try and save her beloved dog – only for nine-month-old pooch Paul to die.
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The Xl Bully’s kidneys began to fail only shortly after she and her husband Nigel were told they had won £13,305 in the People’s Postcode Lottery.
The 51-year-old said she had to fork out for the vet treatment -which was only £100 more than her lottery win.
If Paul wasn’t sick, she said she would have spent the money on a family holiday.
Anna-Marie said vets were “convinced” Paul had eaten poison.
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She said: “I used all my winnings from the postcode lottery, and we lost our dog, he was beautiful.
“We were told the only place we could go to a vet in Basildon that cost £10,000.
“We tried all week to save him but he had chronic kidney failure, we don’t know exactly what he ate, but it caused a lot of damage.
“Vets are convinced it was poison, I don’t want anyone going through the heartache that we went through.
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“I would have taken my family for a nice holiday if Paul had not fallen ill.
“But I would have re-mortgaged my house if there had been a chance of saving him.”
She said it is unclear whether poison had been left intentionally in the park to target dogs, or whether Paul had ingested poison that could have been left out to target rats.
However, she did raise concerns over the number of sandwich bags with dog food in that she said had been found in the park by her and her neighbour.
Anna-Marie said: “Several times at Kismet Park, I have found sandwich bags containing dog food and you never know what else is in there.
“It might have been for rats, who knows, but it’s killing animals and it might kill children next.
“We’re absolutely gutted about the death of our dog and forever will be.”
She said more than 20 sandwich bags had been found with dog food and biscuits at Kismet Park, Canvey, Essex, since Paul died last December.
Anna-Marie said she could not afford medical insurance for Paul following the breed’s ban.
Medical insurance for an XL Bully is only available through a specialist provider, at a much higher premium than another breed which Anna-Marie says was more than her mortgage.
The “poisoning” comes as the XL Bully breed is facing a crackdown by the government.
Dog breeders were trying to quickly flog the beasts before sales became illegal on December 31.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak revealed in September that the dangerous breed would be banned by the end of the year after a spate of horror attacks.
Some of the maulings have proved fatal, including the tragic deaths of dads Ian Price and Jonathan Hogg.
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People’s Postcode Lottery costs £12 a month to play and there are guaranteed winners every day.
People play with their chosen postcode and are automatically entered into all draws. A minimum of 33% from each ticket goes to charity.
New rules on XL Bully dogs
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak revealed in September that the dangerous breed would be banned by the end of 2023 after a spate of horror attacks.
From December 31, advertising, gifting and exchanging the mutts has been outlawed and they must be kept in a secure place to prevent escape, the Government says.
The legislation makes breeding, selling, advertising, exchanging, gifting, rehoming, abandoning or allowing XL Bully dogs to stray illegal.
Dogs that are more than one year old after New Year‘s Eve must be neutered by June 30 while younger dogs must receive the same treatment by December 31.
Plus, people who already own the hounds will have to keep them muzzled whenever they leave their homes.
Scotland has not enforced the same ban for XL Bully dogs yet, but reports say it is likely by the end of January.
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