THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502090443
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
In what state officials are calling the worst outbreak of its kind in a decade, a rare toxin in corn has killed an estimated 31 horses in Chesapeake and Suffolk this winter.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, noting that the deadly toxin has surfaced only in rural South Hampton Roads, is still trying to pinpoint the source of the corn.
Until the source is found, state officials are warning owners of horses, swine, cows and chickens to either give their animals laboratory-tested feed or have their corn stocks inspected for contamination.
Known as moldy corn poisoning, the incurable disease attacks the brain and nervous system of farm animals. Horses are by far the most susceptible because they have low tolerance to the toxin, experts say.
The disease hits with lightning speed. Several owners said they fed their horses in the morning and discovered them dead, paralyzed or wandering aimlessly that afternoon.
``It's just an awful thing to see,'' said Dr. John Sangenario, who runs the largest equine veterinary practice in Suffolk.
Sangenario was forced to euthanize two afflicted horses last week at a Suffolk farm. They were the latest two casualties in a wave of toxic-corn deaths that began in October and has accelerated to a record pace since Christmas.
By comparison, Virginia recorded only five horse-deaths related to moldy corn poisoning from 1988 to 1994, said state agriculture spokeswoman Elaine Lidholm.
``We can't remember the kinds of numbers we're seeing with this,'' Lidholm said. ``It's been at least 10 years, and maybe longer.''
The toxin occurs naturally on corn grown in hot, dry conditions, Lidholm said. It does not affect humans.
Bobbie Jo Dunagan, owner of Moss Point Equestrian School in Suffolk, lost a horse just after Christmas. She nurses abused horses back to health and then teaches disadvantaged children to ride them.
Dunagan recalled how a North Carolina family came to the school just before Christmas to buy a pony. The kids, she said, fed corn from a feed bag to one horse. Days later, Apache Jo was dead.
``Apache was walking into things, and his muscles gave out,'' Dunagan said. ``Then one day he just laid down and died.''
Virginia officials at first thought the tainted corn was all coming from a North Carolina grain dealer. They asked their neighbor to intervene.
But sampling there last week showed no contamination. And North Carolina officials now believe that at least some of the toxic corn was grown in Virginia, said Jack Van Stavern, feed administrator for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
That assessment caught Virginia officials off guard Wednesday.
``We haven't heard that,'' Lidholm said. ``We're still waiting to hear from North Carolina, which was tracing back some of these sources for us.''
Seth Walker, a Suffolk horseman who lost two pleasure horses last week, said he knows where the disease came from - a local farmer, who has since agreed to stop selling corn as animal feed.
``He had put (the corn) in drying bins and thought that's where the mold may have formed,'' Walker said, recalling a conversation with the farmer. ``He agreed right away not to sell anything more. He's not the kind of guy to keep doing something like that.''
Other owners in Suffolk and Chesapeake who have lost horses have since contacted a lawyer and may sue over their animals receiving tainted corn.
Woody Proffitt, for example, watched eight of his horses die. But he declined to discuss the experience.
``Talk to my attorney,'' Proffitt said. ``I'm tired of thinking about all this.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by PAUL AIKEN, Staff photo
Bobbie Jo Dunagan, who owns an equestrian school in Suffolk, lost a
horse to moldy corn poisoning. Apache Jo died days after a family
seeking to buy a pony fed him corn from a feed bag.
by CNB