engleski

A case of brown bear poisoning with carbofuran in Croatia.

On 19 April 2010 in the hunting ground adjacent to the Velebit Nature Park near natural water hole the jackal (Canis aureus) corpse was found, and the day later a dead European brown bear at a distance of 200 m was found as well (coordinates: X 5545067, Y 4906858). There were no visible injuries on bear carcass ; only on the front legs the vomited watery content was found. On three spots near the water found were baits consisting of meat, bones, and dark blue compact granules, which indicated that they were placed after the last rain, or a maximum of 6 days ago. On April 21 the veterinarian from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Zagreb accompanied by police officers visited the site. Veterinarian performed autopsy and found a bloating corpse, moderate autolysis and congestion of organs. Liver and kidney tissue samples and entire ligated stomach were taken. All baits found along the water hole were collected too. Frozen tissue samples and baits were sent to the police forensic laboratory. In the stomach a small amount of liquid bluish content was found. By the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) the presence of carbofuran (insecticide from the carbamate group) was determined in the stomach content and in the baits. In kidney and liver tissue the presence of the carbofuran was proven by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) with mean measured concentrations of 2.695 and 12.650 ppm, respectively. Based on the findings of high concentrations of carbofuran in liver and kidney tissue, a short distance between baits along the water hole and the place where the corpse was found, with certainty we claim the animal was per acutely poisoned by this compound. This is the first proven record of a poisoned bear in Croatia, although the bait was probably not targeted to bears.

Brown bear, poison, carbofuran.

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