Abstract
Nowadays the intentional poisoning of domestic and wild animals is a crime in the European Union (EU), but as in the past the poison is still used in rural areas of a number of European countries to kill animals that were considered harmful for human activities. From January 2014 up until October 2020, the Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (LFT-FMV) has done the analytical detection of poisoning substances in 503 samples of wildlife and domestic animals and pesticides residues were found in 239 of the samples analyzed. In this retrospective study, toxicology results from domestic species (dog, cat, sheep, cows, and horses), wildlife species (red foxes, birds of prey, lynx, and wild boar), and food baits, are presented. During this period the samples analyzed at the LFT-FMV, were received from all over the country. Analytical detections were performed via solvent extraction followed by thin layer chromatography. Molluscicides (47%, n = 109) and Carbamates (24%, n = 57) were found to be the first category of pesticides involved in intoxications, in both domestic and wild animals, followed by rodenticides (13%, n = 30)—in this group second and third generation, were the most represented; Strychnine is the third (11%, n = 26) even though this pesticide has been banned in Portugal since 1988 and in the European Union since 2006 and finally Organophosphates (5%, n = 11) in the small number. This study allowed to realize that a great number of positive samples involved banned pesticides (i.e., Aldicarb and Strychnine) but, at the same time, many positives cases were due to the exposure to commercially available products (i.e., Methiocarb and Anticoagulant rodenticides). Also, it's possible to identify the areas where domestic species are the most affected (i.e., Setubal and Lisboa) and the areas where the wild animals are the mainly affected species (i.e., Faro, Castelo Branco, and Bragança).
Highlights
Poisoning of wild and domestic animals is a problem in all the countries in the world that has been described by several authors from ancient times to nowadays [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
Results obtained in this study show that Molluscicides and Carbamates intoxication are still one of the major causes of poisoning in domestic and wild species in Portugal following the pattern previously reported by our team [8, 28]
Molluscicides can poison domestic animals and wildlife, including birds, which are natural mollusc predators and can eat baits made with these substances
Summary
Poisoning of wild and domestic animals is a problem in all the countries in the world that has been described by several authors from ancient times to nowadays [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16].Acute pesticide poisonings of wildlife and domestic animals can occur due to accidents with substances approved for several uses, and due to deliberate and illegal attempt to poison animals even with baits, and by secondary poisonings [17].Pesticide Poisoning in Portugal Between 2014 and 2020Pesticides or more correctly Biocides, group include a wide range of chemicals, with a great diversity of applications, including agriculture and domestic applications. Acute pesticide poisonings of wildlife and domestic animals can occur due to accidents with substances approved for several uses, and due to deliberate and illegal attempt to poison animals even with baits, and by secondary poisonings [17]. The occurrence of poisonings related to pesticides is influenced by many factors, such as the availability of the substances without restrictions to the acquisition, the possibility to buy them the agricultural techniques, the cultural background and the knowledge and instruction of users, etc [9]. In most of the countries, pesticides are easy to purchase for professional uses and for domestic applications since in some of these countries it’s possible to get them at supermarket and at small shops dedicated to agriculture products and as said before on the online market
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