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Warning issued about poisonous death cap mushrooms in Oak Bay

The District of Oak Bay warns that death-cap mushrooms are starting to appear. They are very toxic and can cause severe illness or death if ingested, especially by children.
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Death cap mushrooms found near Lansdowne and Uplands roads in Oak Bay last fall. Death caps account for up to 95 per cent of all mushroom deaths in North America. DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST

The District of Oak Bay warns that death-cap mushrooms are starting to appear. They are very toxic and can cause severe illness or death if ingested, especially by children.

The mushrooms can be identified their pale, yellowish flowers and large caps with skirting beneath.

Watch for them from June to December.

Of the approximately 250 species of wild mushrooms in North America that are poisonous, death caps account or up to 95 per cent deaths.

A three-year-old died after eating a death-cap mushroom in 2016 that had been growing on a Victoria boulevard.

There were two close calls in 2020 in B.C. where children picked up death-cap mushrooms and put them near their mouths but didn’t eat them.

Serious death-cap poisonings happened in 2003 when a man mistook a death cap for a puffball and in 2008 when a woman mistook a death cap for a straw mushroom.

If you suspect someone has eaten a poisonous mushroom, go to the hospital. You can also call the B.C. Drug and Poison Information Centre at 1-800-567-8911 or call 911. Keep a sample of the mushroom.

To get rid of death-cap mushrooms on your property, wear rubber gloves and wash your hands thoroughly afterward. Be sure to remove the bulbous base of the mushrooms, and remove them before mowing the lawn to avoid spread.

Put the mushrooms in the garbage, not in the compost or a recycle bin.