Jagger collapsed and died shortly after returning to Belgium following this year's Crufts. (file photo, Irish red setter)

Results of toxicology report revealed

Irish setter Jagger died shortly after competing in Crufts this month, sparking concerns that the dog was deliberately poisoned during the event. However, the Kennel Club says a toxicology report suggests the toxins were ingested after the dog arrived home in Belgium.

Kennel Club secretary Caroline Kisko said in a statement: "We have had confirmation, including from independent toxicologists, that the poisons identified in the toxicology report – carbofuran and aldicarb – are fast acting. Severe clinical symptoms would usually occur within half an hour to three hours.

"Considering we are told that Jagger showed the first clinical signs usually associated with these two poisons shortly before his death in Belgium, late on Friday, 6 March night, leading to the immediate call for veterinary attention, we must conclude that it is inconceivable that he could have been poisoned at Crufts on Thursday, 5 March, some 28 to 36 hours earlier.

"Furthermore, the poison is thought to have been given on a piece of beef that was still largely undigested when the autopsy was performed on Saturday, 7 March morning, and food is usually absorbed in dogs within six hours."

Commenting on the results, senior information scientist Nick Edwards from the Veterinary Poisons Information Service, said: "We understand that the toxicology report says carbofuran and aldicarb, toxic carbamate pesticides - which are no longer approved for use in the EU - were found.

"We would expect the clinical effects, if ingested by a dog, to be rapid in onset; normally between half an hour and three hours.

"After this time a combination of clinical effects, if the toxins were taken in sufficient quantities, would likely be present, including weakness, collapse, diarrhoea, slow heart rate, difficulty in breathing and excessive salivation.

"From the information available, it would be improbable that the toxins could have been ingested on Thursday, 5 March if the first reported clinical effects that led to the call for veterinary help, were around midnight on Friday night. We are told that beef (which was reportedly laced with the carbamates) was still in the stomach during the autopsy on Saturday, 7 March. Veterinary experts say that one would expect food of this sort to be digested within about six hours. This suggests that the food was eaten shortly before death."