Wind blew the poison away

Five ewes killed by pesticides

A farmer from Upper Austria wanted to protect his corn from weeds and killed five of his neighbor's sheep as a result. His weedkiller was blown by gusts of wind onto the neighboring pasture of another farmer, where five ewes died from the effects of the poison within a month.

Gone with the wind - this is not about a classic of literary history, but about highly toxic pesticides. As has only now become known, a 56-year-old farmer from St. Marienkirchen near Schärding had applied pesticides to his corn field on the morning of May 21.

Ignoring the wind and the law
Although he had a certificate of competence for spraying pesticides, he ignored the strong wind, which sometimes blew with gusts of up to 40 km/h, as well as the provisions of the Soil Protection Act.

Five dead mother animals
As a result, the pesticides were carried onto the neighboring sheep pasture of another 56-year-old farmer. The animals didn't stand a chance: five ewes died within a month from the effects of the poison.