SYCAMORE STRESS RELIEVER
Acid in tree bark helps calm dogs
Having narrowly avoided the chainsaws several times during a five-year long conservation battle, a 225-year-old sycamore tree in South Windsor is proving to have a calming influence for more than just the shade it offers and its majestic beauty.
Its bark is being used to produce an all-natural medicine (Zentrol) that helps relieve the stress some dogs feel when they are subjected to loud noises, such as thunder and fireworks.
The Canadian company that developed the pill, Souroubea Botanicals Inc., is now finalizing paperwork for Health Canada’s permission to start human trials by early next year.
“I collected about a dozen yard waste bags of bark from the tree in July,” said Souroubea president Tony Durst, a professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa who still does research in the chemistry and bio-molecular science department.
“That’s about 200 pounds of bark. It’s the most I’ve ever gotten from one tree.
“I think the neighbours were wondering who is the old guy picking up bark in the long grass.”
Durst said he became aware of “Windsor’s most famous tree” because his wife’s family lives in Belle River and the public furor over attempts to cut it down.
The medication has been sold in the U.S. since 2016 through Florida-based Pegasus Laboratories. It’s available on Amazon and costs around US$50 for 60 pills.
One pill is generally effective for a 25-pound dog for six to seven hours. The pill is given to the animal about an hour before any anticipated thunderstorms, fireworks of other loud noises.
The active ingredient in the bark is betulinic acid. The bark is ground down into a powder and combined with a Costa Rican vine that also has some of the same properties.
“We’ve found combining the two works better than using each on its own,” Durst said. “It’s an allnatural product that is researched based.
“The pill works on the same receptors in the body that Valium does. Only Zentrol doesn’t have any side effects.”
Durst said plants with betulinic acid have been used over the centuries because of their calming effect. “We’ve traced it back to some tribes in the Amazon rainforest who used the vines to calm people who were considered cursed,” Durst said.
Betulinic acid is also found in the London Plane tree. Both species of tree are found in the Carolinian forest, which has its northern edge in southern Ontario.
Durst has identified such trees on the University of Windsor campus and Charles Clark Square in front of city hall. He’s arranged with his friends at the university to collect the bark.
He’s also working with the Essex Region Conservation Authority to identify more trees in the area.
Durst said the company would like to collect 2,000 pounds of bark by mid- October. To meet the growing demand for the medication, the company is willing to pay $3 per pound for the bark.
Durst cautioned that the bark must not be peeled off the trunk or limbs of the tree as that would damage it. Bark that has naturally been shed and is lying on the ground is what should be collected.
“A typical yard waste bag holds 20 to 35 pounds of bark, so that’s approximately $75 a bag,” Durst said.
The bagged bark should be soil and insect free and dry. There should be no leaves or branches. Each bag should be labelled with the collector’s name, the area collected and the time frame of the collection.
Those with bark can contact Durst at tdurst@uottawa.ca or 613-731-5187.
He said the company will collect the bags in the last two weeks of October and pay the collectors.
“We’re going to start in Essex County and work our way back to Ottawa,” Durst said.