Alpaca plant poisonings: nitrate-nitrite and possible cyanide.

Nitrate-nitrite poisoning killed four adult alpacas and induced the abortion of a full-term fetus after access to oaten hay (Avena sativa) containing 3.2% KNO(3) equivalent in dry matter. Necropsy findings were cyanosis, dark-coloured blood, and pulmonary congestion and oedema. Aqueous humour from two adults contained 25 mg NO(3)/L and that from the fetus contained 10 mg NO(3)/L. Cyanide poisoning possibly killed two adult wether alpacas that ate a garden-cultivated variety of Osteospermum ecklonis (South African daisy, bietou) with a cyanide potential of 6800 mg HCN/kg dry matter.