Hay Company Disputes Link to Horse Deaths

COSTA MESA — Officials of a Southern California feed company Friday disputed conclusions by state veterinarians that link the deaths of 18 horses in the state to allegedly tainted hay manufactured by the firm.

In a related development, two more horses apparently suffering from a rare type of food poisoning linked to the hay were destroyed in Orange County on Friday. But officials said an experimental antitoxin may be improving the condition of other horses stricken with the illness.

One of the horses died at the Orange County Fairgrounds Equestrian Center, bringing the total to nine that have succumbed to the deadly toxin at the Costa Mesa facility.

The other horse died at the Serrano Creek Ranch Equestrian Center in San Juan Capistrano, marking the first Orange County death outside of the fairgrounds.

Three more horses at the fairgrounds were taken ill Thursday and are being treated with an antitoxin obtained from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Officials said the three horses, as well as one more undergoing treatment at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, have shown improvement.

“They are doing better and we’re optimistic,” said Pam Gimple, manager of the fairgrounds equestrian center. “As soon as we give (the serum) to them they stop shaking. We’ve never got that far with any of the others before.”

State health officials this week blamed the deaths on a rare form of botulism and ordered a recall of nearly 1,000 tons of hay cubes believed to be the source of the toxin.

However, an attorney for Paramount Cubing, the southeast Los Angeles manufacturers of the hay cubes, said Friday that investigators have not proven a conclusive link between the feed and the illness.

“I question whether they have really found botulism in the cubes and if they have, then I question whether that botulism is tied to the deaths of these horses,” said Long Beach attorney Donald B. Caffray.

Caffray also revealed that the company carries no product liability insurance. “Who would ever think of getting insurance for something as simple as alfalfa,” he said.

Caffray suggested that the toxin-producing bacteria linked to the deaths may have been carried by airborne spores or in drinking water. He said state officials, who are still investigating the illness, were too quick to point the finger at Paramount.

Investigators Friday conceded that they have failed to isolate the botulism organism in necropsies conducted so far on the 10 horses. The state has not fined or cited Paramount for any wrongdoing.

But the food supply appears to be the only common link among the stricken equines, said Robert Goulding, a state veterinarian involved in the investigation.

Veterinarians said that several hay cubes collected from a San Bernardino County stable where three horses have died contained the remains of a rabbit or other small furry animal that may have been infected with the botulism bacteria.

They speculate that the animal may have been caught up in hay harvested at Paramount’s Utah mill.

Caffray said Paramount maintains strict processing procedures, during which the hay is compressed into cubes, and located its mill in Utah “to be free from industrial contamination” that might be found closer to Los Angeles.

Nevertheless, he said the company now will take additional steps to ensure that the processed hay cubes are free of contamination.

He said that the company also will consider some form of refund or discount on hay for its customers and horse owners.

“We see no indication that the company is at fault, but I think it is a good idea to offer restitution,” Caffray said. “If we can figure out some way to make people feel better, then I will endorse and encourage it.”

At least 18 horses in Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties have died as a result of the illness and many more are sick. The first death occurred Oct. 28 at the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds stables.

Officials said the botulism toxin, produced by a bacteria, has an incubation period of five to seven days, so reports of sick and dying horses are likely to continue streaming in.

Hay-Cube Use Halted

Managers of many stables contacted Friday, including the fairgrounds center, said they will not go back to using cubed hay, and will rely instead on baled hay. The hay cubes were discontinued at the fairgrounds center Monday.

But experts said the current scare probably won’t have a long-term impact on the production of cubed hay, which has the advantage of being cheaper and easier to feed and ship to animals.

“It’s been a real convenience for owners, and there has never been anything like this before, so it’s hard to say what will happen to the business,” said veterinarian Goulding.

Jerry Wilson, a spokesman for the O.H. Kruse Co., an Ontario-based feed company that also manufactures cubed hay, said the current scare has not affected his business.

“We are getting a lot of questions about the whole matter,” Wilson said. “But this is just one of those things, an act of nature. We are all concerned about quality control, but there is no way to prevent something like this.”

But many in the business said the incident will force companies to re-evaluate manufacturing procedures.

“The good point is that the public now knows that animals can get ground up in this process” of cubing, said Dane Keller, a manager and spokesman for the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Griffith Park. “There have got to be some precautions. What we have found is that there is really not a lot of checks and balances in the fields and in what they do to this feed.”

The Orange County Fairgrounds Equestrian Center has formed a Save the Horses Fund, spokeswoman Jill Lloyd said. People wishing to help defray costs of the antitoxin and treatment may send donations in care of veterinarian Robert Bettey, 4341 Lakeview Ave., Yorba Linda, Calif. 92686