Nightmare in Kentucky
Something is very wrong in the Bluegrass State. Home of the Kentucky Derby and famous Keeneland yearling sales, this state is losing one of its most precious resources. Thoroughbred foals are dying--in devastating numbers.
Dr. W. Thomas Riddle identified Early Fetal Loss Syndrome on April 26th of this year when two dead fetuses were discovered during routine exams in Jessamine County. Early Fetal Loss Syndrome is only a label for the condition. Dr. Riddle had no idea what the problem was, or how widespread it would become.
The next day he discovered two more cases in Woodford County. Three days later he found a dead fetus in Bourbon County. Another veterinarian in Jessamine County reported several more dead fetuses.
On May 1st Dr. Riddle found three more cases. He notified Dr. Niel Williams at the University of Kentucky's Livestock Disease Diagnostic Laboratories and Dr. Roberta Dwyer of Gluck Equine Research Center. Officials from the United States Department of Agriculture and a host of specialist soon joined the research effort to find out why the foals were dying.
In the first 13 days of the nightmare, the Kentucky Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center took in 404 dead foals for examination.
As of May 25th, Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital reported 40% of mares in their practice had lost foals. An additional 30% were still in foal, but had abnormal allantonic fluid. Individual farm loss ranges from 0 - 100%. Lexington, Louisville and Simpsonville, KY are hit hard. Ohio also reports cases of Early Fetal Loss Syndrome.
Kentucky senators Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnel are trying to introduce legislation and secure low interest loans to get federal help for farms. According to estimates at the time of briefing, with 5% of the 2001 foal crop dead, and 20% of the 2002 crop aborted; the state has already suffered a 225 million-dollar loss.
And researchers still don't know exactly what is happening. Research first centered on possible toxic agents (specifically mycotoxins) in the pastures. Mycotoxin binders were produced as a feed additive to offer prevention against the syndrome. But further tests could not support this theory. Most recently, researchers believe it is cyanide that is causing the foal loss.
All of the affected farms had cherry trees within proximity to the affected mares' pastures. Black cherry trees contain substances that produce sugars, which under the right circumstances produce cyanide.
But how the mares ingested the cyanide is still unclear. None of the farms had the trees in the pastures. One theory is that young trees were sprouting in the pastures from seeds dropped by bird feces.
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