Polo Deaths: Florida State Vets Says Selenium Levels Were Elevated in Dead Horses

by Fran Jurga | 28 April 2009 | The Jurga Report

A perfunctory statement has been released by the State of Florida regarding the best guess for the cause of much-publicized and tragic death of the polo ponies in South Florida last week.

Florida State Veterinarian Thomas J. Holt today reported that an overdose of selenium was the probable cause of death of the 21 polo horses that collapsed prior to a competition in Wellington on April 19.

In a memorandum to Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson's office, Dr. Holt stated that the animals had "significantly increased selenium levels" in samples tested. He reported that the findings obtained at the department's Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Kissimmee were confirmed by independent testing conducted at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville, the University of California-Davis Animal Health and Food Safety lab, and at testing facilities at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The three universities assisted in the laboratory testing.

"Signs exhibited by the horses and their rapid deaths were consistent with toxic doses of selenium," Dr. Holt said.

Selenium is a trace mineral which is essential for normal cell function and health in animals, and is often included in small quantities in supplements and feed for horses. Large doses, however, can be fatal to animals.

Commissioner Bronson expressed gratitude for the work done at the University of Florida, which conducted necropsies on 15 of the horses and performed extensive toxicology testing. He also thanked the University of California-Davis and Cornell University for testing conducted in their labs.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Bronson noted that the deaths of the horses have triggered an investigation by a number of state agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and he emphasized that the inquiry is ongoing.

He said that no further information on the investigation can be disclosed at this time to prevent the investigation from being compromised.

The Jurga Report will continue to report on the investigations as they move forward.

Polo Tragedy in Florida as Venezuelan Horses Die at US Open

Reports from Wellington, Florida tonight are that a growing number of horses, as many as 14 and possibly more, died this afternoon and that several horses are gravely ill on the grounds of the International Polo Club Palm Beach, according to spectators and reports published on the web sites of the the Palm Beach Post, Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach Daily News.

While the accounts on the three web sites disagree on details, all three reports agree that the horses were all part of La LeChuza Caracas, the South American team headed by Venezuelan banker Victor Vargas. The team, one of the highest-regarded in the world, has been participating in the International Finals tournament in Wellington. The horses that died were very valuable animals.

Update: an 11 p.m. report from KTLA-TV agrees that 14 horses died and suggests the worst, that all the horses may have suffered a drug reaction and that some horses went down in the trailer en route to the match and were dead on arrival.

At this time this situation does not appear to be initiating any kind of a widespread health alert to the general horse population in Florida or to affect any livestock transport into or out of the state or county. An announcement should be made in a day or two from the state veterinarian or agriculture officials, who will conduct post-mortem examinations of the bodies. Several reports suggest that the bodies are being turned over to the diagnostic laboratory in Kissimmee, Florida.

I will update this post if I have more details. Thanks to everyone who has supplied information so far; I hope this is one of those stories that is not as bad as it sounds. I'm sorry that it is difficult to do much more than pass on links to local reports when a story breaks on Sunday afternoon, but it is safer than quoting an incorrect report published elsewhere.