POISONING, ZOO ANIMALS - BRAZIL (SAO PAULO

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Subject:      POISONING, ZOO ANIMALS - BRAZIL (SAO PAULO
     Date:     Tue, 24 Feb 2004
    From:     Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com) (www.thebestcontrol.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

POISONING, ZOO ANIMALS - BRAZIL (SAO PAULO) ***********************************************

A ProMED-mail post <http://www.promedmail.org> ProMED-mail, a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org>

Source: CNN.com, 12 Feb 2004 [edited] <http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/02/12/brazil.zoo.ap/>

What's killing the animals at the Sao Paulo zoo? 'Serial animal killer' suspected -

 -------------------------------------------------

Police are investigating a spate of unusual cases of apparent death by poisoning at the Sao Paulo Zoo, one of the world's largest, where 10 animals including an elephant have dropped dead in a 2-week period.

"We can't explain what's happening," said biologist Fatima Roberti, a spokeswoman for the zoo. "We are letting the police sift through the clues."

What police know so far, according to Antonio Carlos Silveira of the Sao Paulo Civil Police Laboratory, is that 3 chimpanzees, 3 tapirs, 3 camels, and an elephant were found dead between 24 Jan and 6 Feb 2004. "These were apparently unnatural deaths," said Silveira. "These animals just dropped dead suddenly."

Police probed for motives among the zoo's 370 staff members and at first speculated about a possible "serial animal killer" spreading poison in animal cages after entering the zoo as an ordinary visitor. But the current focus is on a more mundane cause -- rat poison. Silveira said police lab specialists have taken samples of food found in the cages of the dead animals for chemical tests. They are also in the process of conducting detailed necropsies of all 10 of the dead animals.

"On Tuesday, the police experts found traces of 3 different rat poisons in the cages of the dead animals," said Silveira. "We are now comparing those traces to the viscera of the animals and to poisons used in 300 rat traps spread all over the zoo."

The theory being tested, Silveira said, is that rats spread small amounts of the poisons by defecating and urinating in the animal cages before dying of poisoning themselves.

However, even confirmation of that theory could lead to a further mystery. According to Roberti, in preliminary necropsies some of the dead animals showed traces of a deadly poison called sodium fluoroacetate, a substance used in powerful rat poisons that are banned in Brazil. If sodium fluoroacetate were found to be the culprit, police would still have to find out who placed the banned substance in the zoo's rat traps, Silveira said.

"In principle, it takes about 10 days to conclude all the tests we've ordered, but we're speeding that up," Silveira said. Meanwhile, staff are keeping a 24-hour watch over the zoo's 3200 animals in hopes of fingering the "animal serial killer," if there is one.

- -- ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>

[According to the Brazilian press of Sun 22 Feb 2004, there are at least 13 suspicious deaths, plus 8 porcupines, 4 of which were found dead on Saturday. Since the end of January 2004 the following animals have died over a period of days: 1 elephant, 1 orangutan, 3 chimpanzees (out of 4), 4 camels (leaving an orphan juvenile), 3 tapirs, and a European bison calf. The rodenticides sodium fluoroacetate and dicumarin have been implicated; they are used in 300 rat traps spread around the zoo. - Mod.JW]

[Sodium fluoroacetate is also known as 1080. It is rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. The oral route is the most important in cases of poisoning. Dust formulations are easily absorbed by inhalation, which is not usual in poisoning cases. 1080 is not readily absorbed through intact skin, but it also may be absorbed in the case of cuts or dermatitis.

1080 blocks the Krebs cycle by the formation of fluorocitric acid, which inhibits aconitase and results in the accumulation of citric acid. The fluorocitric acid is itself highly toxic, and therefore sodium fluoroacetate can cause secondary poisoning, i.e., poisoning in an organism which has consumed a part of an organism already poisoned. Although it can be excreted through the urine as fluorocitrate salts, this excretion is not enough to save the individual. 1080 produces convulsions, involuntary urination, and vomiting. In animals capable of vomiting the stomach is quite empty and testing for 1080 must be done on the vomited stomach contents. There is no treatment for 1080 poisoning. Euthanasia is recommended as the kindest treatment. The convulsions, lack of ability to move air, the extreme muscle rigidity, are all painful.

Toxicity, single dose: Oral: LD50 rat, 0.22 mg/kg Most susceptible species: rodents Measured oral LD 50 values of fluoroacetate in the house sparrow, redwinged blackbird, starling, and golden eagle are 3.0, 4.22, 2.37, and 1.25 to 5 mg/kg, respectively. In addition, measured acute toxicity data for mammalian wildlife include an oral LD50 of 0.22 to 0.44 mg/kg for mule deer, an oral LD50 of 1.41 mg/kg for male ferrets, and an oral LD 50 of 0.5 to 1.0 mg/kg for bears.

Dicumerin is an anticoagulant that is commonly used as a rodenticide.

If this is a serial killer, let us hope the perpetrator is quickly caught. .............................................................................................................................   

If this is the normal consequence of using rat poisons, let us hope someone reads "THE BUG STOPS HERE" for free rodent control alternatives located at my website located at: http://www.thebestcontrol.com .  I am currently having this free book translated into Portuguese.   Respectfully,  Stephen L. Tvedten

 

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