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VetBooks.ir Chapter 3

Epidemiology of Animal Poisonings

in Europe

Francesca Caloni, Philippe Berny, Siska Croubels, Magda Sachana and Raimon Guitart

INTRODUCTION year, while the corresponding toxicology laboratory
(ToxLab) analyses between 1500 and 2000 samples. A
A centralized veterinary poison control/information center
second center is located at the College of Veterinary
does not exist in the European Union. In many European
Medicine of Nantes (CAPAE-Ouest), which is open dur-
countries information about epidemiology of animal poi-
ing regular business hours (Berny, 2007; Berny et al.,
sonings is unavailable or inadequate, and refers only to
2010a). In the United Kingdom, the Veterinary Poisons
isolated case reports. However, some epidemiological data
Information Service (VPIS) provides services only to
gathered by universities, research institutes, government
veterinarians (Bates et al., 2012), whereas the Royal
institutions, or independent laboratories have been pub-
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
lished in the last decade in Austria, Belgium, Germany,
(RSPCA) records suspected cases of deliberate acts
Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal (see Table 3.1 for coun-
reported by pet owners. In cases where there is hard evi-
try abbreviations).
dence of pesticide poisoning including sporadic incidents
In certain countries such as Belgium, the Czech
involving livestock and pets, surveillance is conducted by
Republic, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, The
the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) for production
Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden, human poison control
animals and by the Wildlife Incident Investigation
centers also collect data on animals. In Belgium, the
Scheme (WIIS) for wildlife.
Belgian National Poison Center in Brussels (BPC) holds a
24/7 hotline for suspected human and animal poisoning.
The Laboratory of Toxicology of Ghent University SPECIES INVOLVED
(LTGU) and the Centre d’Informations Ve ´te ´rinaires en
Pharmaco-toxicologie, Universite ´ de Lie `ge, are special- In numerous EU countries such as Belgium, Denmark,
ized in analytical confirmation of animal poisoning for Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and the
the northern and southern parts of Belgium, respectively United Kingdom, the species most commonly involved in
(Vandenbroucke et al., 2010). Similarly, in Spain’s poisoning incidents is the dog followed by the cat
National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences (Amorena et al., 2004; Giuliano Albo and Nebbia, 2004;
(INTCF) offers a 24/7 telephonic service for cases of sus- Berny et al., 2010a; Vandenbroucke et al., 2010; Caloni
pected poisonings, and in recent years the Institute for et al., 2012; Novoa et al., 2012; Garcia-Cardoso, 2016).
Game and Wildlife Research (IREC) in Ciudad Real has With respect to analytical investigations at the CNITV/
been very active in the analytical confirmation of poison- ToxLab and LTGU laboratories (Fig. 3.1), the resulting
ings in wildlife and domestic animals. numbers are slightly different due to the significant number
In Italy, the Assistenza Tossicologica Veterinaria of wildlife disease surveillance plans, resulting in a substan-
(ATV) provides telephone assistance in cases of suspected tial number of baits being included in the analyses (12% of
poisonings in small animals. In France, the College of cases submitted annually at LTGU, 15% in France).
Veterinary Medicine of Lyon (CNITV) offers 24-h spe- Among farm animals, most of the poisoning incidents
cialized assistance for suspected cases of animal poison- involve cattle (Guitart et al., 2010a; Vandenbroucke et al.,
ing and receives between 12,000 and 14,000 calls each 2010; VIDA, 2011; Novoa et al., 2012; Garcı ´a-Arroyo

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