Dog owner recalls close call with poisonous pufferfish while walking pet pooch alongside the beach

The woman had found her dog biting onto the dead pufferfish and pricked herself while throwing it away

PUBLISHED MAR 17, 2023

A woman opens up on close call she had with a pufferfish when she went on a walk with her dog (Reddit)

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: It’s not everyday that you take a walk along the beach with your dog only for it to end with your dog swallowing a pufferfish, but that’s exactly what happened to a woman in Australia. The dog owner and her pet pooch had a close call with the world’s most poisonous fish species while walking along the Altona Dog Beach on the evening of Thursday, March 16. She had been casually taking in the sights when she noticed that her dog had a spiky, dead fish in his mouth, which she later identified as a pufferfish.

The woman had taken to social media to express her concerns. She said, "My dog decided to try eat this," and then went on to add, "He refused to drop it, so I had to remove it from his mouth, in the process I think I felt a tiny prick on my thumb. Will we be ok?" Yahoo News reported. Her concerns are very much valid, given the kind of danger that the toxins in the pufferfish may cause. It has enough poison to kill 30 people and is fatal, regardless of whether it is dead or alive. The creatures are home to a substance called ‘tetrodotoxin,’ which is also found in the blue-ringed octopus. To provide some reference, the toxins of the pufferfish are 1200 times more poisonous than cyanide.

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‘I feel fine’: Woman provides update after pufferfish poison scare

The woman had later gone on to provide an update on her and her dog’s conditions. "They said because he didn’t ingest any and he hasn’t had any symptoms he will be fine," she said. She then added, "As for myself I feel fine but will call a nurse if I develop symptoms.”

Pufferfish: A deadly sea creature

According to Dr Georgina Child, a neurology specialist at the Small Animal Specialist Hospital, the pufferfish is known to kill humans and animals “within minutes” of their attacks. “They may often vomit and become weak very quickly, so have difficulty standing,” Dr Child said of victims. “It affects their ability to move and then, depending on the amount of toxin absorbed, it can rapidly progress to them being unable to breathe.”