Three more dogs are suspected of being poisoned after walking along a footpath.

It brings the total of animals that have died to 11 after being exercised on a popular dog-walkers’ route between Station Road and Park Road, Cross Hills, near Skipton.

Post mortem investigations are being carried out on a number dogs by veterinary surgeons.

All the dogs died between May 20 and May 25 and the pathway has been cordoned off as investigations are carried out by an environmental protection team.

An RSPCA spokesman said they were still not aware of the outcome of the post mortems.

She said: “We are sure of eight dogs which have died but there may be others out there.

“If there is evidence of foul play people can be sure we will be looking into it, but it is important to establish if the deaths were deliberate or accidental.

“If there is evidence that they were deliberately poisoned we hope it will lead to criminal convictions.”

A spokesman for Craven Council’s environmental protection service said they had received three more reports of dog deaths linked to the footpath.

“And there may be more cases out there that owners have not reported. We would like to hear from them,” she said.

Officers had taken samples from a nearby pond on the agricultural land but the results had proved negative.

A dog owned by Ken and Eileen Johnson, of Park Road, Cross Hills, is believed to have been one of the first to have died.

Diesel, a healthy six-and-a-half-year-old Jack Russell, died shortly after going out for a walk on May 20.

“He was fit and being his usual self after getting back from the walk,” said Mr Johnson.

“My wife was making a cup of tea when he suddenly collapsed on the kitchen floor and soon after he died in a fit of epilepsy.”

  • Read the full story in Wednesday's T&A