Creeping Indigo, is both a perennial and a legume. (meaning: it blooms all year long and creates it's own fertilizer from the air) This means this weed can endure and thrive almost anywhere that is sub-tropical in climate. It is resistant to drought, salt, and heavy rain. It is a prostrate, ground cover weed that grows underneath your grass, without inhibiting grass growth. This gives it the advantage to close in on your animals without being noticed.
Creeping Indigo's most deadly toxin, named "Indospicine", is cumulative and therefore, it remains in the tissues once consumed. (like lead or other metals) This means, it can build to deadly levels over a lifetime as it's consumed. It is estimated that only 5% of one's body weight need be consumed in a lifetime to cause severe illness/death. Later stages of Creeping Indigo poisoning are "largely irreversible" therefore; the only guarantee for survival is early detection.
According to research, this weed is deadly to anything that consumes the weed OR an animal infected by the weed. This includes livestock, domestic animals and wildlife; including birds. "The Australian Veterinary Journal" verifies that there have been cases where deaths and liver complications in dogs were traced back to foods that were made with Indospicine infected meat. It can only be assumed that this kind of health issue is a risk to any carnivorous animal, including humans.
THIS NEEDS TO BE RECOGNIZED AS A CONCERN OF THE ENTIRE STATE OF FLORIDA in the very least in order to get this under control and eradicated before it reaches it's full tragic potential. Livestock owners are fighting to regain control of their land and save their animals meanwhile, it is being allowed to thrive in public and commercially owned areas. Protecting our land and our perimeters is next to impossible without state action.
To this date, there are NO EFFORTS being made by the state to control/eradicate this weed. Nor, have the tests been made available in the USA in order to immediately, and definitively, identify Creeping Indigo as the cause of illness.
We have prepared a petition, asking that the state of Florida, to take the following actions:
1. Have this weed placed on the "USDA Noxious Weed List" thus, improving community awareness tremendously!
2.Provide funding, to the University of Florida, to further research this weed/toxin to develop treatments, prevention practices and to provide answers on the affects of this toxin.
3. Outline herbicide regulations for commercially and state owned lands to include the use of herbicides containing aminopyralid that, effectively kill this DEADLY weed.
4. Broaden toxicology panels in the USA to include those, currently available in the countries Creeping Indigo is native to, that test for Indospicine levels in the blood/tissue. This would allow Doctors and Veterinarians alike, to definitively identify this toxin and provide immediate aide to it's victims before it reaches irreversible and deadly stages!
Please, go sign our Petition and help us get rid of this deadly weed. You can sign the Petition at www.standunited.org then type Creeping Indigo in the search box.
Visit www.ninaswarriors.com for more information including links to studies; hosted by UF and other veterinary sources, videos of symptoms, identification/eradication instructions and more. You can also, join us on Facebook at Nina’s Warriors for live discussions on developments and for identification assistance.
Please, help us spread the news... and help us fight for our safety and for the lives of our animals, both wild and domestic. We need to fight this infestation on ALL fronts. If not addressed with urgency, this will become an issue in ALL US southern states. Take action before it's too late.
