The record heat of this period became a deadly trap for a flock of a thousand sheep in the Alessandria area in recent days. More than fifty animals died within minutes while grazing in a recently harvested wheat field. One of the wild plants, sorghum, poisoned them. The reaction of the sheep that ingested it was immediate: breathing difficulty, foaming at the mouth and sudden collapse. The animals' handlers immediately moved the rest of the flock away, saving it. The account of what happened on July 10 was provided by the IZS (Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale) of Piedmont, Liguria and Valle d'Aosta.
It is well known that sorghum is a very useful cereal for animal feed, but also that young plants or those stressed by drought are toxic. In this case, however, it was hidden among the rest of the grass. "During the early stages of development, sorghum accumulates cyanogenic glycosides — dhurrin — as a defence mechanism, which if ingested by animals rapidly convert into cyanide," explains the IZS. "Due to heat stress and severe drought, the plant can accumulate high concentrations of the glycoside, which then becomes a deadly poison when new shoots, young leaves and regrowth are consumed." This mechanism was fully demonstrated in this case. "The toxicity levels found through analysis in this incident were almost double those recorded during the 2022 drought, when several cattle in the Cuneo area were affected," the Institute explains. "The episode shines a spotlight once again on the indirect risks of climate change: prolonged periods of extreme heat and drought not only reduce water supplies, but alter the very chemistry of the vegetation in our territories," it added.
Veterinary Service physicians from Alessandria and IZS staff attended the scene, successfully managing to save the animals that had been affected in milder form. Post-mortem examinations and subsequent laboratory analyses of the plants carried out by the IZS then confirmed the suspicions: the sheep's deaths were caused by acute cyanide poisoning.
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