No warning signs

Woman and dog sprayed white while out walking

When the magnesium lime is applied, the green nature turns white in a matter of seconds.

(Bild: Landesforstdienst)

Susanne Weiss (57) from the Innviertel region and her two-year-old Labrador "Flori" were sprayed with a full load of magnesium lime without warning in a forest near Braunau (Upper Austria). The culprits just laughed at her. The walker feared that she had been sprayed with pesticides and immediately took a shower. She has reportedly been coughing ever since and has watery eyes.

"I looked like a snowman. My clothes, glasses, eyes and hair were dusted white. Flori also got the worst of it. I panicked because I didn't know what chemical it was," says Susanne Weiss, describing the frightening incident on Thursday during her daily walk with her two-year-old Labrador dog in the Lachforst near Braunau.

White wall came shooting towards her
The dog trainer had just made her way back to the car when she heard a loud noise. "At first I thought that chopping work was being carried out. Suddenly, a white wall shot towards us and we couldn't avoid it," says the 57-year-old.

She was worried that she had been sprayed with pesticides. With a scarf over her mouth and nose, she fled into the car. From there, she saw the culprits: "It was a vehicle with a balloon-like body, with two men sitting in it, who just grinned at me derisively."

Cough and irritated mucous membranes
As it turned out, the two workers had sprayed magnesium lime to improve the forest floor. "It's cheeky that they didn't put up warning signs," says Weiss, whose eyes are still watering. "My mucous membranes have been very irritated ever since and I have to cough all the time."

At home, she immediately took a shower and washed "Flori" and her clothes. On Saturday, the symptoms were less severe, but still there: "I'm taking eye drops and expectorants in the hope that everything will get better soon."