Fallow and TB

fallow me

Well-Known Member
Long story short, I shot a fallow sorrel last Thursday which I observed for around 15 mins prior to dispatching, all seem fine, the sorrel was walking fine along a fence line, he seemed to be in perfect shape, waited till he got within a nice shootable distance and dispatched him, i had him suspended in a near by tree ready to gralloch within 5 mins, so far so good, Started the gralloch, then the horror starts, you know straight away if things don't look right, see photos, How an animal can breath let alone walk with internals in such a state, the third pic shows the left lung removed and a white puss pouring out, i contacted APHA who came out the next day and took lots of photos and both lungs away, there opinion was TB, but obviously they can't confirm until tests are done, Warning, I was told that I was now responsible for the safe removal of carcass and remaining gralloch, which had to be incinerated because it is a biohazzard, now that's a lot of hassle and expense for doing the right thing, and reporting it
 

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Thank you for this. Very useful
Bloody awful mess inside

Couple of questions so I know what I'm looking at

The splatted liver stuff in the lung cavity. Was that just loose in there or is it blood clot or liver shot (in fact where was the shot position if relevant)

And top left of pic 3 is that the liver? Looks like spleen in terms of mottled colour but is huge

Finally were you given and advice re your own health from the vet given you got a long way in the gralloch


Best of luck
 
I thought APHA would have disposed of that. I didn't think it was supposed to be moved as it's a reportable disease and needs correct biosecurity. I've never heard of an individual being responsible for costs but if that is the case, wants double bagging and some care with movement.

have you got a local fallen stock round or hunt kennels? I'd speak to them and see if they have a Cat 1 skip - cost should be around £80/tonne so relatively modest for a fallow carcass
 
Thank you for this. Very useful
Bloody awful mess inside

Couple of questions so I know what I'm looking at

The splatted liver stuff in the lung cavity. Was that just loose in there or is it blood clot or liver shot (in fact where was the shot position if relevant)

And top left of pic 3 is that the liver? Looks like spleen in terms of mottled colour but is huge

Finally were you given and advice re your own health from the vet given you got a long way in the gralloch


Best of luck
In answer to your questions, the splattered stuff is clotted blood, but nothing to do with the shot site, the shot site was low neck, well away from cavity, calibre was .308 using 150gn nosla bts,
Pic 3 Liver
And no
 
I thought APHA would have disposed of that. I didn't think it was supposed to be moved as it's a reportable disease and needs correct biosecurity. I've never heard of an individual being responsible for costs but if that is the case, wants double bagging and some care with movement.

have you got a local fallen stock round or hunt kennels? I'd speak to them and see if they have a Cat 1 skip - cost should be around £80/tonne so relatively modest for a fallow carcass
I thought the same, but no, i actually said to the APHA person that by reporting this it is actually going to discourage me from reporting again as its going to cost me time and money
 
Last season, my first of 68 does from the same 'herd' had bTB.

Behaving normally and shot back of neck just below the head. It was very thin and pronounced spine etc.

Mesenteric definitely enlarged and gritty. Retropharyngeal, submandibular, mediastinal, bronchial and portal all looked and felt normal. Lungs had hard white areas at the ends.

When the APHA vet incised the 'normal' nodes, they all had small (2mm) bits of white stuff inside.

None of the other does had any abnormalities but I did not incise every single node. It did make me wonder though, whether early stages of bTB can be missed in 'normal' looking nodes.

The fallow graze pasture with cattle and, in the autumn, share 'feeding stations' of fallen apples from hedgerow trees. We've had 1 annual TB test since, with no reactors. But... I'm still worried about the concentration of cattle and deer at the apple trees.

I was responsible for disposing of the carcass - double bagged and incinerated. But we all have to take the rough with the smooth in this game and I would hope that everyone would still report suspect carcasses to APHA.
 
I thought the same, but no, i actually said to the APHA person that by reporting this it is actually going to discourage me from reporting again as its going to cost me time and money
Yeah, I agree, I think that's an unreasonable stance. Last one I had with suspected TB they took the carcass and pluck away but that is a good few years ago.
 
@ Hazlett
Any nodes on rib area?
Tried to identify as many of the lymph nodes as i could, but to be honest when you look at the state of all the organs and interior of the carcass it becomes a pointless exercise, plus i didn't want to dig around a bio hazard cocktail until APHA had seen it, The photo of the lung was cut off under there direction
 
That is rough news indeed and also the experience with reporting it in terms of you having to be responsible for disposal. I would have thought they would organise that but it is what it is I guess.

I sometimes shoot just literally just outside Brackley with a friend who has various pieces of ground over there. Touch wood we have never seen TB in either the roe, muntjac or fallow that we have taken in the area but I will say the Fallow are not ten a penny where we shoot. Lots of roe though and of course plenty of muntjac.

Fingers crossed this will be isolated for you and the landowner but almost certainly not.

Thanks for posting. These are always really informative posts that help us all.
 
@ Hazlett
Any nodes on rib area?
There weren't dispersed white lumps on the inside of the rib-cage in my case but there were a lot of fibrous adhesions between the lungs and the ribs, which made separating and removing the lungs a noticeably difficult process, compared with the normal scoop out.

Tried to identify as many of the lymph nodes as i could, but to be honest when you look at the state of all the organs and interior of the carcass it becomes a pointless exercise, plus i didn't want to dig around a bio hazard cocktail until APHA had seen it, The photo of the lung was cut off under there direction
I think I was also quite fortunate that there was no shot or other damage and, in my case, the gloop was all contained, so all the lymph nodes were perfectly intact. For you to open up and see the white stuff everywhere doesn't sound great.
 
Interesting thread , what does one do to dispose of such a carcass if a one man band on small land permissio
That is rough news indeed and also the experience with reporting it in terms of you having to be responsible for disposal. I would have thought they would organise that but it is what it is I guess.

I sometimes shoot just literally just outside Brackley with a friend who has various pieces of ground over there. Touch wood we have never seen TB in either the roe, muntjac or fallow that we have taken in the area but I will say the Fallow are not ten a penny where we shoot. Lots of roe though and of course plenty of muntjac.

Fingers crossed this will be isolated for you and the landowner but almost certainly not.

Thanks for posting. These are always really informative posts that help us all.
As you will know, there is a lot of woodland nr Brackley and Silverstone area all along the A43, The Fallow are certainly growing in numbers in that area, herds of 100 plus have been seen,
 
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