A member of the San Diego Unified School Board says someone poisoned her dog in her Sorrento Valley backyard last week.

Sabrina Bazzo says she found her golden retriever Bruno chewing on meat laced with poison and metal hooks on Dec. 12. Two handfuls of it were thrown into her backyard.

There are plenty of playthings in Bruno’s backyard, but nothing as dangerous as what the 2-and-a-half-year-old dog found that afternoon.

“When I first saw it, I was just so shocked, I couldn’t believe it,” Bazzo said.

She keeps what is left of two fistfuls of shredded meat tied up with string in her refrigerator.

“It had these blue-like crystals in there and these metal pieces, like metal hooks. That’s when I like freaked out,” Bazzo said.

Within 20 minutes of swallowing that poisonous bait, she brought Bruno to the animal hospital, where they induced vomiting. No further medical treatment was necessary, but timing was everything. Bazzo says had it taken longer, the outcome could have been much worse.

“The vet said if animals take in enough, a decent amount, there is nothing they can do,” Bazzo said.

Like all pets, Bruno is special, but for more reasons than the obvious. Bruno was just a puppy when he became part of the Bazzo family. It happened when her husband David was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. Her husband died last June.

“Now that he’s actually gone, I have Bruno here with me. He has been very comforting for the family,” Bazzo said.

Three months after her husband’s death, Bazzo received a letter in the mail. It was typed in bold red letters. It read, “Please shut your (expletive) dog up with all the barking day and night.”

“It was during a difficult time for us that makes this that much more sad. We never leave him unsupervised, just being outside on his own,“ Bazzo said.

She suspects the author of the letter is also behind the poison food thrown in her backyard.

In part of an email, San Diego Humane Society spokesperson Nina Thompson wrote: “San Diego Humane Society’s Humane Law Enforcement is currently investigating a recent incident of suspected animal cruelty. We are working diligently to investigate all leads.”

What was once a safe retreat designed and maintained by her late husband while still alive, now, seems more like a trap.

“To now feel like someone is watching me or knows my dog is in the backyard and wants to do him harm, it’s scary,” Bazzo said.

Bazzo says until she finds out who did this, she can’t be sure whether this has anything to do with her position on the school board or her dog.