A Cleveland-area lab told Metro Parks officials yesterday that it detected toxins produced by algae in a Three Creeks Metro Park pond where a dog drank water and later died…
..Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, are common in Ohio lakes and streams but grow thick in water after feeding on phosphorus from manure, fertilizer and sewage that wash into waterways. The algae can excrete liver and nerve toxins that can sicken people and kill pets, fish and wildlife.
A preliminary Ohio Department of Agriculture report concluded that the dog died of severe anemia attributed to internal blood loss consistent with a bleeding disorder. The report said algae blooms can produce toxins causing liver damage that affects blood clotting, but rat poison can also affect it…
…Metro Parks also will test water samples from lakes at Prairie Oaks and Battelle Darby Creek metro parks, Deputy Director Larry Peck said. Dogs swim in those lakes.
Peck said he didn’t know the concentrations of toxins found in the Heron Pond water but that they were at potentially lethal levels.
The fatality was the first reported pet death in Ohio this year that might be associated with a toxic-algae bloom…more
