Massachusetts wildlife advocates want rat poison regulation to prevent owl, eagle deaths

BOSTON -- Zak Mertz and the staff at New England Wildlife are currently treating a Barred owl with vitamin K, fluids, anti-inflammatory and pain meds while he recovers from Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticide poisoning, more commonly known as "S-GARs."  

The center treats around 100 to 200 animals a year for SGAR poisoning.   

"This poor Barred owl was found in Mount Auburn Cemetery. When he first came in, he couldn't even stand up. He was virtually comatose when we first got him," said Mertz, who is the Executive Director of New England Wildlife Center's Cape Cod branch. "S-GARs are a class of poison. They're a cheap mechanism because they stop the blood from clotting efficiently. If you employ a company that uses them, they come out and they put the poison bait blocks into those black rat boxes you see on every street corner downtown."

Mertz says every case is heartbreaking, but what happened to one Great Horned Owl last summer has stuck with him.  

"It was a really sad story actually. He was up in a nest with his family and one of the parents got a hold of a poisoned rat, and we watched the owls sort if drop one by one within a matter of days. We did an emergency blood transfusion on one of the siblings, couldn't save it." 

Rodenticide doesn't just kill owls; it is a threat to any animal that feeds on mice and rats. Mass Wildlife says last year two Bald Eagles died after ingesting lethal levels of rodenticide. One eagle was found dead in her nest by the Charles River.

Just a few months later, a baby eagle was poisoned in Arlington. Residents there are already pushing to ban rodenticide on all private and public property.  

"What happens is the mouse or rat comes along, it will go into the box and eat the poison, and the mouse doesn't die right away. It ends up getting sick. So, what you end up with is a slow, sick mouse that looks like a really easy meal for a predator. If you're a barred owl like the one we have in our care right now, you may think you're getting an easy lunch. You swoop down, you eat the sick mouse and all of a sudden, you've dosed yourself with that same poison," said Mertz. 

"This stuff really moves through the food chain pretty easily and that's one of the biggest problems, it's not targeted. It's preventable, and with good education people will make better choices we just need to get the word out there."  

That is exactly what State Representative Jim Hawkins (D-2nd Bristol) is trying to do with H.4600, also known as The S-GARs Bill. It would require pesticide companies to disclose to customers the effects of rat poison on the environment. Customers would also need to provide a signature, acknowledging the dangers of having it on their property. It would require non-poisonous alternative methods, also known as "Integrated Pest Management," or "IPM," in all state buildings and on land in Massachusetts. 

The bill would also require an online database, where companies would report how much poison was used and where.  

"Right now, it's paper records, which basically means if you want to research, you'd have to dig through a carton of papers, which is not reasonable for doing any sort of research if we want to know more about the use of rodenticides," Rep. Hawkins said. "I'm worried people don't realize what they're doing. It's bad for our whole ecology. The whole point is for people to understand the consequences of using it before they make that decision. We spent a lot of time creating this bill because we wanted it to be something that could pass this session. Because we need something now."

The city of Boston is already trying a more targeted approach, using a carbon monoxide smoke out machine. In Somerville, electric smart boxes are helping the city solve their rodent problem. 

"When a rodent enters, it pings the extermination crew and tells them a rat has entered the box. An elevator picks up the rat, puts it into a contraption, zaps it, and puts it in a bag for easy disposal," Colin Zeigler, Somerville's Environmental Health Coordinator explained.

While Mertz supports alternative, IPM methods for managing rodents, he warns sometimes we would be better off just letting nature do its thing. 

"I can tell you from having owls in care, each one of those owls probably eats 1,000 to 2,000 mice a year. So, you can imagine it's some of the best natural vermin control out there. If we take them out by using this poison, not only are we harming our environment, but we're actually taking away some of the rodent control and allowing rodent populations to proliferate. If this legislation doesn't go through, I think the risk we run is that animals continue to get sick by eating mice and rodents that have eaten the SGARs, and we continue to lose not only a lot of animals and biodiversity here in Massachusetts but all of the ecosystem services they provide."  

Rodenticides cannot be purchased off store shelves, but they are still used by pest professionals. If you would like to reach out to your state representative or senator and ask them to support H.4600 you can start by finding your legislator here.