Strychnine - A Terrible Way to Die
Dr. Jerry Haigh
Dr. Jerry Haigh is a Kenya-born, Glasgow-schooled veterinarian who spent the first eleven years of his professional career in his birth country. After a year as an intern at the Faculty of Veterinary Science at Kabete, he joined the government service as a DVO. From 1970 to 1975 he worked in private practice and developed expertise as a wildlife veterinarian. During those years he witnessed poisoning of cattle, horses, dogs, cats and a young boy with a variety of toxins. In the case of the child, he was able to assist his doctor wife with a successful treatment. In 1975, Dr Haigh joined the faculty of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine as a zoo and wildlife professor. He remained there for over 33 years until his retirement in early 2009. He has published over 300 articles in refereed literature, scientific proceedings, magazines and extension pamphlets. Among his over 250 blog postings are several on the use of Furadan, an insecticidal toxin used to deliberately poison lions and birds in East Africa. He has also contributed numerous book chapters, a textbook and three works of creative non-fiction about his career. His books and full CV can be found at his website www.jerryhaigh.com
The debate, seldom polite, often vigorous, about the wolf and its presence among us often becomes a “to poison or not to poison” matter. The subject waxes and wanes, but today, in parts of Alberta and British Columbia, indeed in many parts of North America, it is indeed the question, and strychnine is the apparent sling and arrow.
I suspect that most people who espouse the poisoning route have never seen the effects of this deadly substance on any animal.
Unfortunately I have.
The experience goes back 45 years but is still seared in my memory.
At the time I was a newish Glasgow graduate working as a District Veterinary Officer in rural Kenya. Part of my job was rabies control, and part of that was to ensure that all dogs were vaccinated annually and duly licensed. The fee paid by the owner involved the dog wearing a small tag, much as it does today.
There were large numbers of feral dogs roaming and it was these that posed a terrible risk to the people (especially the children), the pet dogs, the livestock and the farmers. They also posed a risk to other animals such as jackals and anything else one can think of. In turn any creature bitten by a rabid dog (or other species) could continue to spread this deadly disease far and wide. Every year people died of rabies.
Once a year I was required to conduct safaris to all the outlying villages and vaccinate the dogs. Once that had been done my next task was to comply with Veterinary Department protocols and put out baits laced with strychnine, following a standard procedure, and watch for results. Sometimes untagged dogs would not be claimed and we were required to throw bait directly to them. Most of these dogs were skinny scavengers. A piece of meat was more than they might have seen for days and it usually disappeared as if vacuumed. The protocol warned us not to use too much poison, as that might make the target animal vomit before the desired effect had been achieved.
This is when the wheels came off for me. I had never seen any creature die in the way that followed a bait consumption.
Some time (5-15 minutes) after they had eaten the meat laced with its deadly Trojan horse the dogs would suddenly yelp and run a short distance before falling over. They might paddle, yelping some more or they would rise again and run a few metres more before crashing over. The limbs would stiffen and the neck and back would arch like a tautened bow or twist as if turned by a corkscrew. At some point the yelps would turn to a dog version of a scream as the dog’s lips stretched back in a grim rictus. There would usually be several repeat screams.
Strychnine is reported to cause some of the most painful and dramatic effects of any know poison. I certainly hope I never see anything like it again.
I hoped that the baits we had left out overnight had not caused some other creature to die in the way I had just witnessed, although it seemed highly likely that they would have done.
Wolf biologist Bob Hayes reported flying to an illegal bait site where a sow grizzly bear, two wolves, ten ravens, six magpies and hundreds of dead chickadees lay dead. He wrote that the helicopter downdraft made it look as if “someone had blown apart a dozen pillows.”
As for rabies control in the late 1960s in Kenya, I took the glass bottle straight back to the veterinary HQ the next day and after obtaining clearance to use a gun I requisitioned several boxes of number 4 shot. If I had to use lethal force for rabies control, (and that was an essential part of my job) it was never going to be with strychnine again. A basic rule for all vets is to be concerned with animal welfare. Shooting a feral dog gives nobody any pleasure, but in the face of a rabies risk, it is at least quick and effective.
If the rancher who cannot prevent wolf attacks by other methods (which do exist) and has to use this deadly substance to “take arms against a sea of troubles” caused by livestock predation then we are in a sorry state.
Strychnine poisoning is very definitely an animal welfare issue. Its use is inhumane.
The debate, seldom polite, often vigorous, about the wolf and its presence among us often becomes a “to poison or not to poison” matter. The subject waxes and wanes, but today, in parts of Alberta and British Columbia, indeed in many parts of North America, it is indeed the question, and strychnine is the apparent sling and arrow.
I suspect that most people who espouse the poisoning route have never seen the effects of this deadly substance on any animal.
Unfortunately I have.
The experience goes back 45 years but is still seared in my memory.
At the time I was a newish Glasgow graduate working as a District Veterinary Officer in rural Kenya. Part of my job was rabies control, and part of that was to ensure that all dogs were vaccinated annually and duly licensed. The fee paid by the owner involved the dog wearing a small tag, much as it does today.
There were large numbers of feral dogs roaming and it was these that posed a terrible risk to the people (especially the children), the pet dogs, the livestock and the farmers. They also posed a risk to other animals such as jackals and anything else one can think of. In turn any creature bitten by a rabid dog (or other species) could continue to spread this deadly disease far and wide. Every year people died of rabies.
Once a year I was required to conduct safaris to all the outlying villages and vaccinate the dogs. Once that had been done my next task was to comply with Veterinary Department protocols and put out baits laced with strychnine, following a standard procedure, and watch for results. Sometimes untagged dogs would not be claimed and we were required to throw bait directly to them. Most of these dogs were skinny scavengers. A piece of meat was more than they might have seen for days and it usually disappeared as if vacuumed. The protocol warned us not to use too much poison, as that might make the target animal vomit before the desired effect had been achieved.
This is when the wheels came off for me. I had never seen any creature die in the way that followed a bait consumption.
Some time (5-15 minutes) after they had eaten the meat laced with its deadly Trojan horse the dogs would suddenly yelp and run a short distance before falling over. They might paddle, yelping some more or they would rise again and run a few metres more before crashing over. The limbs would stiffen and the neck and back would arch like a tautened bow or twist as if turned by a corkscrew. At some point the yelps would turn to a dog version of a scream as the dog’s lips stretched back in a grim rictus. There would usually be several repeat screams.
Strychnine is reported to cause some of the most painful and dramatic effects of any know poison. I certainly hope I never see anything like it again.
I hoped that the baits we had left out overnight had not caused some other creature to die in the way I had just witnessed, although it seemed highly likely that they would have done.
Wolf biologist Bob Hayes reported flying to an illegal bait site where a sow grizzly bear, two wolves, ten ravens, six magpies and hundreds of dead chickadees lay dead. He wrote that the helicopter downdraft made it look as if “someone had blown apart a dozen pillows.”
As for rabies control in the late 1960s in Kenya, I took the glass bottle straight back to the veterinary HQ the next day and after obtaining clearance to use a gun I requisitioned several boxes of number 4 shot. If I had to use lethal force for rabies control, (and that was an essential part of my job) it was never going to be with strychnine again. A basic rule for all vets is to be concerned with animal welfare. Shooting a feral dog gives nobody any pleasure, but in the face of a rabies risk, it is at least quick and effective.
If the rancher who cannot prevent wolf attacks by other methods (which do exist) and has to use this deadly substance to “take arms against a sea of troubles” caused by livestock predation then we are in a sorry state.
Strychnine poisoning is very definitely an animal welfare issue. Its use is inhumane.