Concerned parents in the west end were sharing an allergy warning across social media groups Wednesday afternoon after discovering the Dufferin Grove Park play structure covered in peanut butter.

“It was everywhere. All over the hand railings... on the ladder, all over the swings, all over the slides,” said Sarah Bolton, who was at the park with her son Lewis, 2, at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday when she noticed the mess.

“It’s just a really scary situation. It would have to take a sociopath to do something like this,” said Bolton, who alerted a few neighbourhood groups on Facebook.

“You shouldn’t have to worry that someone will maliciously put a very (well)-known allergen (in a place) that kids will play.”

The news then spread quickly on Facebook.

“Only a psychopath would do such a heinous thing!” said one commenter. “What kind of an evil person does this?”

According to Eat Right Ontario, an allergic reaction can happen within minutes or up to several hours after contact with peanuts and symptoms vary from person to person. The most serious form of the allergy is called anaphylaxis, which requires immediate attention and can be life threatening.

“(It’s) hard to predict how much peanut would trigger the reaction, so we always warn parents that small amounts could trigger it,” said Dr. Edmond Chan, the division head of the allergy clinic at the BC Children's Hospital. Even small amounts of peanuts that are internalized could be problematic for those with allergies, he said, as the route of exposure defines whether or not there would be a reaction.

“If the child touched the play structures, then internalized the peanut somehow – like they didn’t wash their hands and touched the food they ate, rubbed their eye, licked their fingers – they could internalize it,” he said.

Recent studies have also found that peanut allergen is very robust. One study in Halifax was able to detect peanuts on a table surface after 110 days. The good news is another found it was easy to clean that surface. “A regular household cleaning wipe... was sufficient for getting rid of the allergen.”

The most important thing is that avoidance of peanuts is imperfect, he said, and children with confirmed peanut allergies must carry an epinephrine autoinjector, such as EpiPen, at all times.

“(A) peanut allergy is never mild. Even if someone has a mild reaction one time, there is always the possibility of anaphylaxis,” said concerned mother Shelagh Genevieve Albert. “My son is allergic, and this is very upsetting to me.”

The Dufferin Grove Park smear is believed to be the fourth incident of this nature in west end parks over the past few months.

Parks staff received reports of peanut butter smeared in Carleton Park, Perth Square and Hillcrest Park via 311, but in each instance, “staff could not locate any peanut butter when they arrived at the park,” said Matthew Cutler, a spokesperson for Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation.

Cutler confirmed that a parent approached Dufferin Grove Park staff at the park to report peanut butter on the playground equipment Aug. 10 and that the peanut butter was found and promptly removed. He could not say how much peanut butter was there, but Bolton believes she saw “at least” three jars’ worth covering the structure.

Any vandalism of playgrounds is a serious concern for the city, said Cutler. Especially “given the known issues with peanuts and the risk of anaphylaxis in some children, this vandalism even more concerning,” he said, but an investigation of this issue would be the responsibility of Toronto police.

“We encourage parents to report any incidents of vandalism in parks to 311 and to report any suspicious or potentially criminal behaviour to the police,” Cutler said.

Police from 14 Division told the Star on Thursday they had not received reports of peanut-butter vandalism in their district’s parks.

“If there’s a pattern here, unless we have a report we can’t (follow up on it),” said police spokesperson Const. Caroline de Kloet, when asked about the serial smears.

“This is a public place and, if it is peanut butter, it’s not ideal. Even if you don’t have an allergy, who wants peanut butter on them while going down a slide?”

It’s an odd thing to have happen, continued de Kloet. “Spreading the word on social media is (smart for parents)... at least it gets the word out that if you do have a child with a peanut butter allergy, maybe avoid that park.”

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De Kloet encouraged parents of children with allergies to be “super careful,” but until a report is made police will not investigate. Anyone with information about these incidents is invited to call 311 or report it to their local police division.

“All the parents were freaking out,” said Vanessa Crossley, who was playing in Dufferin Grove Park with her two-year-old son Eli on Thursday. Her son does not have a peanut allergy, but Crossley said the smearing scares her.

“It’s terrifying,” she said, “and it’s just bizarre that somebody would do that.”