Warning issued for all dog owners over poisonous plant after death of two-year-old German Shepherd

http://www.larnetimes.co.uk/news/local-news/poison-parsnip-blamed-for-dog-s-death-at-drains-bay-beach-1-5862023

The poisonous parsnip (hemlock) is toxic to dogs and humans and should be avoided.

Extra care is needed, I think. The dog didn't even eat it, just picked it up.  

I think the warning should be extended to parents as well! Very dangerous!

True. Nobody (me included!) just don't realise that water parsnips are part of the hemlock family!   Deadly!

I hadn't realised until I looked up poisonous plants a few years back - it's not really common knowledge

I wouldn't even know what it looks like, though.  

Tbh, nor do I...

Just looked it up - it's one of these plants that happens to be very similar to other plants.

Trouble is, hemlock looks very much the same as other wild plants (wild carrot, Queen Anne's Lace, etc); maybe bigger.

Thankfully, children are too busy these days on their X-boxes to wander the countryside as I did 50-odd years ago. Then, we would look for these big plants as the hollow stems made excellent pea-shooters. The "wrong" stem would sting around the mouth and we would wash our lips in the stream on whose banks the things grew.

Just think about the danger we used to put ourselves in!  

Caryll wrote:Just think about the danger we used to put ourselves in!  

But wasn't it great? In those long-gone days we children went out in the morning and didn't come back until we were hungry. What bliss for our parents - we were gone all day. We learned for ourselves - good or bad. And some of us survived.

Mind you, I didn't do the same with my own children in the '70s and '80s !