"Miss Perspicacia Tick" wrote in message news:MB9Rd.4738

Not enough. Not a single school (unless Jane can correct me) round here has
one - I have been an LSA in several. My grandfather (89) 'teaches'
horticulture and 'nature appreciation' at Little Waltham C of E Combined and
was responsible for their wildlife garden. He also claims that he is
singularly responsible (going OT again!) for the reintroduction of the
Cinnabar and 5 and 6 Spot Burnett moths to Essex (and we need more of them -
a friend of my sister's lost her best pony last year to ragwort poisoning).
Cinnabar and Burnet(t)s feed exclusively on the noxious weed (of course the
ragwort's toxins are what make the caterpillars poisonous) but then he has
always been prone to hyperbole.

Actually, I tell a lie, I think my old school has one, set up by the last
remaining nun.

I thought I had dealt with this one here last year. Here goes.
A lot of emotion can be stirred up by this issue bu before anyone
flames me about this I have done the detailed research to back up what
I am saying.

THere is a lot more about this on http://www.ragwortfacts.com/

It is possible, but unlikely that, ragwort caused the death of your
sister's pony. I sympathise greatly with your loss. Noone wahts to see
these beautfull animals suffer. However, the symptoms of ragwort
poisoning are simply the symptoms of liver damage which can be caused
by chemicals of all sorts. One case in the scientific literature was
actually found to be caused by an incinerator not ragwort as had ben
thought.

First of all lets deal with the moths. The burnet moths you mention
most certainly do not feed on ragwort they feed on various of the
species of Bird's foot Trefoil. THey never have disapeared from Essex.
The cinnabar moth is very common and has never become extinct anywhere
in Britain. I know there is someone going around telling people
different but it is total nonsense.


There is a lot of hysteria about ragwort.

Yes. As a scientist who has extensively studied the subject,I believe
that "hysteria" is the correct word to use. It is of course
understandable that people should have a concern for their precious
animals but there is little rational need for extreme concern and it
is hard to avoid the conclusion that people are being manipulated.
Certainly there will have been no harm done to certain organisations'
public profile.

There are certain researched facts that well support the contention
that this is hysteria. First of all there is the level of toxicity of
the plant. This is actually quite low. The toxic dose for a large
animal is in the order of several stone. This has been determined by
experimentation and one horse is known to have eaten over 20% of its
body weight of the plant and survived!. Of course horses eat a lot but
this puts the level of toxicity into context. This is not cyanide we
are taking about but a mildly toxic plant.

Now to the hysteria. The following is just one example of many. One
equine magazine on the net published a story that horses could be
poisoned by "seeds and Spores" (sic) blowing into pasture that they
would breathe in. On the basis of the level of toxicity this is
absolute nonsense. (Even if you ignore the inaccurate botany.)
Yet the story has spread. It has appeared in at least two _Government_
press releases and as even been copied by the BBC. It is hardly
suprising therefore that many people have a false picture of the real
story about his plant.

We are told that thousands of animals are poisoned by it every year.
However, what do the scientific data say? Well, there is apparently
only one set of official statistics available. These official
Government statistics were published in the official State Veterinary
Journal.
Here they a

The number of reported incidents of ragwort (Senecio jacobaea)
poisoning in cattle in England, Wales and Scotland were 26 (1985), 10
(1986), 16 (1987), 13 (1988), 7 (1989), 10 (1990).

Hardly the picture we have been led to believe and incidentally this
is supported by scientific papers from the continent which say
poisoning is rare.

I could go on with the false stories about it being a risk to people
etc. etc.

The real worry is even if the sexed up statistics that are being used
to generate hysteria are right, all the focus on ragwort may be
obscuring the true problem. THe following is a letter from a vet that
was published in the Sunday telegraph.


---------------------------------------
Cherchez les toxins Date: 3 August 2003


It seems that ragwort is fast becoming the subject of a nationwide
outburst of hysteria similar to that caused by salmonella in eggs
(News, July 27). In the hope of calming it, I offer the following
thoughts

.. Yes, ragwort is poisonous to horses, cattle and sometimes sheep. It
can cause acute liver damage in young stock, but this is rare. It is
most commonly encountered as chronic liver damage in older animals.
But ragwort is distasteful to horses and cattle, and they will eat it
only if they are half-starved on a pasture that is bare of almost
anything else.

In the agricultural depression of the 1930s and during the Second
World War, there was far more ragwort around than there is today.
There were no selective weedkillers available, so it had to be
controlled either by hand-pulling or by allowing sheep to graze off
the young plants, which are less poisonous. There were also many more
horses in the country, working on farms or pulling delivery vans.
Ragwort poisoning was a recognised disease, but not a major problem.

Any good stockman would not leave his animals on a bare pasture with
ragwort. I find it hard to believe that so many of today's horsemen
and women leave their horses on bare ragwort-infested pasture that
6,500 of animals succumb to ragwort poisoning annually. I realise that
some ragwort could be bought in with hay, but ragwort is easily
spotted, is normally rejected by the horse and is in any case easily
removed by the groom/ owner. It could be more of a problem to those
few horses that are fed silage.

I suggest that if 6,500 horses are dying of "ragwort-like" liver
damage each year, it is time to look for other possible toxins.
Pesticides added to grain to control weevils and mites are certainly
one possibility.

From: Frances Wolferstan BA, Vet MB, MRCVS, Tamworth, Staffordshire

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--
Neil Jones- http://www.butterflyguy.com/