LEAD-POISONING OF CALVES PASTURED IN THE TARGET AREA OF A MILITARY SHOOTING RANGE

Five calves, seven to nine months of age, were put on pasture in the t arget area of a shooting range in early May. Acute lead poisoning occu rred in one of the calves after five days of grazing; the remainder be came ill one to three daps later. The most important symptoms consiste d of neurological disturbances and included maniacal movements, opisth otonus, drooling, rolling of the eyes, convulsions, licking, champing of the jaws, bruxism, bellowing and breaking through fences. All but o ne calf, which was euthanatized, died within several hours of the occu rrence of the fu-st symptoms. In one calf, the concentration of lead i n samples of whole blood (940 mu g/l), liver (38 mg/kg wet weight) and kidney (30 mg/kg wet weight) were markedly increased. Post mortem exa mination of this calf revealed acute cardiac, renal and pulmonary haem orrhage, acute tubulonephrosis and acute severe pulmonary emphysema. T he concentration of lead in the dry matter of a grass and a soil sampl e from the target zone of the shooting range were 29'550 mg/kg and 390 0 mg/kg, respectively. Further investigation revealed that this area h ad been used as a military shooting range for many years, and in the p revious year, approximately 20'000 bullets with lead contents of eithe r 3.05 g or 8.55 g had been fired. The results of this study indicate that the target area of shooting ranges must not be used for pasture o r for food production for animals or humans.