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Gilbert (KNXV) — For several concerned residents, the question is who is doing it and why?
Multiple people told ABC15 they’d found blow darts at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert in recent weeks.
“In the natural dry foliage, it was just laying there,” said Donna Malkin, who says earlier this week she found a dart with a blade or arrow attached to the top.
Malkin is not only concerned for the safety of animals, but for children who may find one of the sharp darts and pick it up or others who may find themselves on the receiving end.
“It would pierce flesh definitely,” she said.
Another man, Dick Burgess, told ABC15 he found a rabbit with a dart piercing a part of its skin at the preserve last month. He took a picture that shows the apparent dart near the top of the rabbit’s head.
“This is a nature preserve,” Burgess said. “It’s just cruelty to animals.”
Burgess hopes whoever is responsible for the darts stops.
“I hope that somebody sees that picture and recognizes those darts and thinks ‘hey my buddy’s got a dart gun like this, or my child has a blow dart thing like that, I recognize those things and will talk to them and stop this,” he said.
ABC15 reached out to Gilbert police and the Town of Gilbert about this issue but has yet to hear back.
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