ACCUMULATION OF SELECTED HEAVY-METALS IN RED AND ROE DEER IN THE CENTRAL WEST CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS (CENTRAL SLOWAKEI)

In order to determine differences between the game species and between their areas of origin, the contents of lead, cadmium, mercury, and ar senic in the livers, kidneys, rumen contents, as well as arsenic in th e hairs were analyzed for 52 red deer an 37 roe deer from 2 areas in C entral Slovakia (Tables 1, 2, 4, 5). Among red deer the contents of Pb , Hg, and As were below the tolerance limits. On the whole the contami nation with cadmium was high, especially in the area of Polana. This i s due to the presence of an aluminum factory with high emmission rates , the burning of bituminous coal, and die utilization of fossile ferti lizers and corrosive fluids. Among roe deer part of the heavy metal co ncentrations surpassed the tolerance limits. Roe deer accumulate more Hg than red deer; whereas red deer concentrate more As than roe deer. No significant differences were found between the two species in the a ccumulation levels of lead and cadmium. In comparison to neighboring s tates the heavy metal accumulation except for cadmium, is low.