Antitoxin Used in Fight to Save Poisoned Horses

Two more horses apparently suffering from a rare type of food poisoning were destroyed in Orange County on Friday, but an experimental antitoxin may be helping other horses stricken with the illness, officials said.

The deaths bring to at least 18 the number of horses in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and San Bernardino counties that have died from botulism, and many more are sick.

Three more horses at the Orange County Fairgrounds Equestrian Center and one at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center have become ill and are being treated with an experimental antiserum obtained from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Officials said the horses receiving the antiserum are showing improvement.

“They are doing better and we’re optimistic,” said Pam Gimple, manager of the fairgrounds equestrian center. “As soon as we give (the antiserum) to them, they stop shaking.”

State health officials this week blamed the deaths on a rare form of botulism and ordered a recall of nearly 1,000 tons of hay cubes believed to be the source of the toxin.

However, officials for Paramount Cubing, the Southeast Los Angeles County manufacturer of the hay cubes, on Friday disputed the state findings and said investigators have not proved a conclusive link between the feed and the illness.

“I question whether they have really found botulism in the cubes, and if they have, then I question whether that botulism is tied to the deaths of these horses,” said Donald B. Caffray, a Long Beach attorney who is representing Paramount Cubing.

Caffray suggested that the toxin-producing bacteria linked to the deaths may have been carried by airborne spores or in drinking water and said state officials, who are still investigating the illness, were too quick to point a finger at Paramount.