PERRYSBURG — In a first step to declaration as a noxious weed, the Ohio Department of Agriculture has sent a representative to investigate a field in the city that has been overrun with foxtail barley.

Dorothy Pelanda, director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture was contacted by Ohio Rep. Haraz Ghanbari, R-Perrysburg, Mayor Tom Mackin and city council, in an effort to have the weed put on the noxious weed list, because of public health concerns.

The barbed seeds of the foxtail barley plant can get lodged in the lungs of people and pets, requiring surgery for removal. Several local area pets have required extensive specialty surgery, with 14 seeds removed from one man’s dog.

“Our team at the Ohio Department of Agriculture is aware of this situation and, I assure you, we are looking into it,” Pelanda wrote to Mackin. “Foxtail barley is not a weed that has been previously identified as problematic to ODA’s Division of Plant Health. ODA’s Chief of Plant Health personally visited Perrysburg to see the field in question and took samples of the weed. Our experts are currently conducting research to learn more.”

Ghanbari said that two staff members from the department of agriculture took samples from the field on July 12.

“While they believe this is almost like a perfect storm of conditions, they have never seen anything to the magnitude of the foxtail barley field when they were up there, it would still be prudent to communicate that if your pet ingests foxtail barley, it could lead to medical complications,” Ghanbari said.

On July 3 Ghanbari spoke with the ODA and they then brought in the plant health division.

“I met with the team on July 12. What they related to me is that they had never seen it that bad, that concentrated before,” Ghanbari said. “Those seeds are going to go up into the air. It’s not like a tumbleweed that is going to blow across the field and be caught in that little fence that was subsequently installed after this happened.”

They told Ghanbari that they put the samples under a microscope and they have been verified as foxtail barley. He added that the investigators informally recommended that if attempts are made to remove the seeds, or cutting down the foxtail, that it needs to be bagged to capture the seeds and dispose of it.

“They were also going to be consulting with their staff veterinarian, because I shared with them that … dogs apparently ingested this,” Ghanbari said. “I also asked that once ODA had some more definitive answers on this that they look at some sort of public service announcement, not just to the folks here in Perrysburg, but more broadly across the state.”

Perrysburg resident J.R. Miazga first questioned the spread of the foxtail barley on social media when his dogs started showing health problems.

There are several steps to adding a plant to the list, which Pelanda laid out in the letter, as defined in the Ohio Revised Code.

Steps include researching the weed, a stakeholder review, public comment and a review of the request by a legislative committee.

Mackin has also asked for assistance from Ghanbari and Ohio Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Huron.

“It sounds like there is a process. I appreciate that the department of agriculture got back to us on this, is looking at it seriously and is doing its due diligence. I hope it’s done as promptly and as expeditiously as possible,” Mackin said.