Macaw in a coal mine
Eric Koslowski, Lab Director at ETR Laboratories, discovers the missing link to a beautiful, 27 year old Macaw's seizures. Zinc was found in the birds cage and the cage was replaced but even after all potential zinc sources were eliminated, the bird was still very zinc and dangerous levels of zinc were still present. Dr. Joerg Mayer, Tufts' exotic animal specialist, introduced the parrots owner to Eric, a scientist with whom the vet had worked with on many others such cases.
It was soon discovered that the bird owner relied on a private well for her drinking water and this was water was also given to the bird. The water test results indicated that the water coming out of the kitchen faucet was loaded with zinc. The culprit: several corroded galvanized tanks used to store the water. The tanks were replaced by fiberglass ones -mystery solved!
http://www.tufts.edu/vet/publications/resources/tvm_12-1_winter_2010.pdf
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