Some years ago a friend of mine worked in veterinary medicine in connection with a local college or university in Canada near a major metropolitan centre which will not be named. He worked it Vet medicine there and this is how he came to know of an unusual case involving an animal.

A psychiatrist and his wife lived on a small estate on the outskirts of the city where they had a private zoo, whether it was for medical research or not I don't know. In any case one of the inhabitants of the private zoo was a largish ape whose name was Angel. The psychiatrist and his wife had a troubled relationship. She formed an attachment to the ape that became, shall we say, romantic in nature. Subsequently the husband was observed pacing back and forth on his lawn waving a pistol and shouting, “How do you compete with that!”

Things went from bad to worse and a poison called Thallium was involved. Angel was poisoned with Thallium. He began to show some of the symptoms, such as loss of hair. One of the other parties showed symptoms as well and, eventually there was a murder/suicide going on there. Thallium was once an effective murder weapon before its effects became better known.

After the demise of the participants there was medical testing going on and Angel's remains were sent to the university veterinary lab where my friend worked. Angel's body was tested there to determine the cause of death, and to see if Thallium was involved. It was. Preserving his remains as evidence was required in the short term but eventually, as apes are rather large, his remains were cremated and put in a jar on the shelf.

Some wag in the veterinary lab made a label for this jar and the label read 'Angel Dust'.

© Sonia Brock 2006