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Pesticide investigated in deaths of 27 horsesCOLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)--A veterinarian investigating the sudden deaths of 27 horses at a Brazos County stable said autopsies suggest the horses ate toxic feed. H. Richard Adams, dean of the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine, said July 19 that three of the horses' stomach cavities contained phosphine gas--a product of a pesticide designed to kill weevils in horse feed. Adams said veterinarians were waiting for more test results to establish a definitive cause of death. Owners of the Carousel Acres Equestrian Center and Stable said 24 horses died recently. Another three died after being taken to Texas A&M's Large Animal Clinic. After examining the bodies of the three horses that died at the clinic, Adams said it was likely they ate the residue of phosphine gas because it was found in their stomachs, and not in their lungs. The gas is a product of a fumigant that is released from the pesticide tablets. Adams said it's not clear why the fumigant would have stuck to the feed, but it was possible that moisture in the silo caused it to stick. "I believe we're going to find out something else happened--what that is, I don't know," Adams said in Thursday editions of the Bryan-College Station Eagle. Stable co-owner Bradley Raphel said he followed standard practice when he recently treated the silo of horse feed with chemical pesticides. "Actually, it's not even supposed to get into their feed. All it is is a gas that extracts oxygen out of the silo and deprives weevils of air," Raphel said. "How that has transferred into the feed, I don't know. Nobody seems to know the answer to that." Veterinarians remained at the stable monitoring the 41 horses still boarded there, said Raphel, who lost two-thirds of his personal herd of show horses in the deaths. Date: 7/27/06
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