Abstract
In April 2015, a farmer in the Silesia Region, Czech Republic, suffered a massive loss of 51 sheep. Two days before the incident, the flock of approximately 300 sheep were transferred from their wintering stable to pastureland. The pasture had a brook as a source of drinking water and in addition, a water cistern with drinking water was provided as well as mineral salt licks; otherwise the animals were left to graze with no supplementary feed. During the night of 28/29 April it rained heavily. The salt blocks were damaged and softened, showing signs of intensive nibbling. In the morning of 29 April, dead animals were found all over the pastureland. Four of the sheep were sent for post mortem examination and toxicological analyses. Evidence of extremely high concentrations of NaCl in the liver samples and characteristic pathologicalanatomical findings confirmed the suspicion that the sheep had died of fodder salt poisoning. The rapid and extreme change in the weather conditions, soaking of the otherwise solid salt lick, and the short period of acclimatisation of the sheep to the pasture were at fault. The main preventative measure is to respect the transitory period for the animals to get accustomed to a different kind of roughage and local conditions. This case is noteworthy because of the number of animals affected, the speed of the poisoning progress, and the detailed pathological examination of the dead animals. As there is a limited number of articles describing salt poisoning in sheep, this case study may contribute to the broadening of the knowledge on this issue.
Highlights
On 29 April, 2015 the Regional Veterinary Administration (RVA) was notified that at one farm in the Silesia Region, Czech Republic, several dozens of sheep had died and authorities were asked to investigate this incident
The pasture had a brook as a source of drinking water and in addition, a water cistern with drinking water was provided as well as mineral salt licks; otherwise the animals were left to graze with no supplementary feed
During on-site investigations, the RVA inspector discovered that on Monday, 27 April the farmer had transferred the flock of 295 head of sheep from their winter housing in a building to one of the enclosures for summer grazing
Summary
On 29 April, 2015 the Regional Veterinary Administration (RVA) was notified that at one farm in the Silesia Region, Czech Republic, several dozens of sheep had died and authorities were asked to investigate this incident. The employee of the farm informed the RVA inspector that the dead animals were found all over the enclosure She reported that on instruction of the managing director of the farm, 4 of the dead sheep were immediately transported for examinations of the cause of death to the State Veterinary Institute (SVI). During on-site investigations, the RVA inspector discovered that on Monday, 27 April the farmer had transferred the flock of 295 head of sheep (ewes, ewe hoggs, and lambs) from their winter housing in a building to one of the enclosures for summer grazing. The enclosure of the pastureland where the sheep died was supplied with 4 lumps of 10 kg compressed salt licks; a sample of approximately 2 kg was taken from this salt lick and sent for examination to the SVI together with information about the product. No other source of death was considered at that time
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