Home > Actions > C. Concrete Conservation Actions > C6 Production and dissemination of an Anti-Poison First Aid Kit

A first aid kit will be provided to livestock farmers in the most risky areas for poisoning of shepherd dogs and wild fauna.

Shepherds in areas with frequent livestock guarding dog poisoning problems will be provided a fist aid kit containing all necessary drugs and relevant equipment to treat dog poisoning at the very first critical stages. Shepherds will then contact the veterinarians of the project either directly for further administration of drugs and instructions for appropriate handling of poisoned dogs or seeking in situ medical help when necessary. The kit will include: Vomiting agents (e.g. water mustard), poison absorbing agents (e.g energized carbon pills or solution), antagonist agents (e.g. sulfur atropine), syringes, gloves, plastic bags for sampling and other supplementary equipment needed. All necessary drug agents will be placed inside a non- disposable water resistant light box with project logo’s as to be easily carried by shepherds during animal grazing in the field. As far as possible agents included in the kit will be those low cost ones which can be easily purchased from pharmacies as to encourage shepherds to replenish the kit after its expiring or after use. Each kit will treat several cases of dog poisoning. The kit will also include a four-page brochure with comprehensive instructions on animal poisoning (symptoms) and handling using included agents at specific dosages per animal and case.

1200 kits will be disseminated to affected farmers or to farmers and hunters in risky areas. Kits will be prepared and disseminated throughout the project duration, starting from the earliest phases of the project. That is, dissemination of kits will be provided by personnel in the field implementing A2 preparatory action (“Assessment of the distribution and numbers of bears in the project area”) soon after onset of the action thus at early stages of the project while locating chronically affected farmers in the field.

Then dissemination will be continued through implementation of actions C1 – (Stakeholder consultation), C4 (Bear Emergency Team - BET), C5 (Stock breeder network for exchanging Livestock Guarding Dogs), and D.2 and D.3 (monitoring of the project’s impact on brown bear, including monitoring of preventive methods).

Dissemination of a small number of kits to hunters (who are also affected when their hunting dogs are poisoned) will hopefully improve the attitude of hunters and will increase their acceptance of the project.

The action will be implemented in all project area. In particular in Florina Regional Unit there 1500 livestock farms approximately. CALLISTO will be responsible for the production of the adequate number of anti-poison kits, the necessary agents per kit and the appropriate information material/texts and photos that will illustrate the brochure included in the kit. CALLISTO’s experts will also maintain a data base for all shepherds been provided the kit. CALLISTO’s veterinarian will educate field personnel and will provide vet care and advice in case this is necessary. She will also provide kits when visiting supported farmers.