Toxic Plants May have Killed 40 Horses

Biosecurity Queensland is investigating the isolated deaths of 40 horses in the Muttaburra district in central west Queensland.

Vet Rick Whittle says there are reports of horses on five properties in the region dying from liver damage or left with permanent liver scarring.

Mr Whittle says they still don't know the cause, but is looking at whether the horses could have died from eating a toxic group of plants called Crotalaria.

"The difficulty is the horse doesn't get sick for some months after the plant's gone, and so you've then got to look back at what's happened," he said.

"What we've been trying to do is to get information from owners as to their horse deaths or horse illnesses and then what happened to that horse in the months or years beforehand."

www.abc.net.au