Toxic algae in Mendocino County waterways could kill your dog

MENDOCINO CO., 7/30/26 — Three dogs went into the South Fork Eel at Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area, outside Leggett, in the summer of 2002. Two started seizing within five to 10 minutes, and both were dead within 15 minutes.

Mendocino County environmental health officials sampled the water. A state animal-health lab in Davis found anatoxin-a — a nerve toxin made by algae — in the dogs’ stomachs, and concluded that was most likely what killed them. Two years later, another dog convulsed and died after swimming near Piercy, nine miles north of Leggett.