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% KNO3 equivalent in dry matter. Necropsy findings were cyanosis, dark‐coloured blood, and pulmonary congestion and oedema. Aqueous humour from two adults contained 25 mg NO3/L and that from the fetus contained 10 mg NO3/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.