ARSENIC IN CHAFF

Wairarapa Daily Times, 19 May 1934, Page 2

ARSENIC IN CHAFF

STOCK POISONED. CHRISTCHURCH, Friday. On 6th April, five horses and two cows died suddenly on the farm of. Mr G. W. Vesey at Tinwald. Investigations have been made by the Department of Agriculture, and it is now accepted that the animals died from eating chaff which had been contaminated with a solution of arsenic antimony and copper, which was kept in the shed for use in the treatment of footrot. How the poison reached the chaff is .not known. The chaff and solution were kept in the woolshed, which had been used frequently by tramps and swaggers, who had often to be ejected by Mr Vesey. It is considered that only by human agency could the poisonous solution have reached the chaff. The first fear of the officers sent to make investigations was that the animals had died from anthrax, but the symptoms indicated arsenic poisoning, and an analysis of the stomach contents discovered the presence of arsenic. A bottle of footrot solution was also analysed and was found to contain arsenic. In the chaff found in the troughs from which the beasts were fed traces of arsenic were found. Only one bag of chaff was poisoned.—(P.A.)