Rodenticide
in
Your
Community

Rodenticides are pesticides specifically formulated to kill rats. Most rodenticides are anti-coagulants, meaning they prevent blood from clotting, which causes internal bleeding. Jonathan Evans, a senior attorney and environmental health legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, describes this kind of pesticide as “a bucket of toxic waste.” It takes about 6-12 days for a rat to die after consuming the poison, which makes the rats sluggish and easy prey while ensuring a slow and excruciating death.

Many rat populations have developed genetic resistance to first-generation anticoagulants (like warfarin), meaning the poison no longer disrupts their blood clotting. Additionally, anticoagulants take several days to work, which means that rats will have time to breed more rats until they are killed by the poison. If a rat eats a sub-lethal dose and feels sick, it will associate the sickness with the bait and stop eating it, ultimately surviving the exposure.

This poison does not simply vanish after a poisoned rat is consumed by another animal. Rodenticide’s blood thinning transfers up the food chain each time prey that has been poisoned is consumed by a predator. As previously mentioned, rodenticides are slow killers, which means they make rats weaker and easier prey. This means that in your neighborhood screech owls, hawks, raptors, cats, dogs, foxes, and raccoons may be susceptible to rat poison if someone employs rodenticides.

Secondhand poisoning can cause lethargy, a lack of blood clotting, bruising, and lethal neurological failure. This lack of blood clotting causes them to bleed uncontrollably, both internally into their organs, and externally from the nose and mouth. The destruction of the nervous system and brain tissue causes seizures, tremors, and paralysis.

Animals that have consumed poisoned rats need immediate care. Vets treat these cases with decontamination (if recent) and a long-term prescription of vitamin K1 therapy, sometimes requiring blood or plasma transfusions for severe blood loss. If animals remain untreated for too long, there will be intensive internal bleeding, which can be untreatable.

Below is a chart showing the research collected from an experiment testing how rat populations could be expected to react to anticoagulant poison (based on previously collected field numbers) versus how they could be expected to react to fertility control drugs. Fertility control drugs are food-flavored drugs that block reproduction abilities in both male and female rats. They do not transfer through the food chain, unlike anticoagulant rat poisons. Consider using fertility controllers like SenesTech or ContraPest, as they do not have negative effects on other animals and, as seen on the chart, control rat populations better than traditional poisons. It is also important to recognize why rats are in a certain space. Limit access to areas like sheds, and be sure to properly dispose of trash and maintain dumpsters to ensure there is a lack of an area that rats will flock to. Remember rats are in need of a habitat, and they choose specific places for specific reasons! Reduce all welcoming areas, and you are less likely to fester rats.

As a Packanack resident, I began to notice that an increasing number of foxes in our community appeared mangy and ill. After researching I realized that this was likely because they had ingested poisoned rats. I wanted to help foxes and other animals who were being hurt by rodenticides. The other portion of my project was building nest boxes for screech owls with the help of Raptor Trust, in hopes of introducing additional screech owls to communities in hopes of decreasing rat populations naturally. You can always build a screech owl box, but make sure you and your neighbors are not rodenticide users, because you could be setting your feathered friend up to be poisoned.

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• Poison Free by 2023 raptorsarethesolution.org
• Rodenticide Toxicity Cornell Wildlife Health Lab
• The Internet Has a Rat Poison Problem Audubon Magazine
• Anticoagulant Rodenticide Poisoning in Animals Merck Veterinary Manual
• Urban Raptors: Rodenticides NYC Bird Alliance