Eek! Is a mouse! A nasty little creature laden with bacteria and a carrier of disease; hop in the car and go down to the local hardware we go. Shelves full of ‘death in a box’, all bearing familiar labels: Hot Shot, d-Con, Generation, Rozol, etc. They are conveniently stacked for easy selection. What the heck, just pick one. Come home and read the instructions: “Keep out of reach of children and pets.” No problem, we’ll stick the bait under that bottom shelf out of harm’s way. There, that mouse will soon be a toast!
Most people can identify with this scenario. They don’t know that the warning should also say “Keep out of reach of everything big and small, bright and beautiful,” because it really is death in a box. Manufacturers aren’t required to divulge exactly how deadly their toxic chemical concoction really is.
What are rodents?
Almost all rodents share common teeth. That is, they have both upper and lower incisors that continue to grow. As you can imagine, to prevent their teeth from growing too long, they must continuously bite down on something. Unfortunately, that usually means that the roots, fruits, seeds, and stems of plants fall victim to your dental needs. It can also mean expensive damage to walls, floors, and electrical wiring in your home and vehicle. There are some rodents that are the exception to the rule and only eat fish or insects.
In my neck of the woods, rodents include deer mice, brown mice, voles, moles, opossums, black and brown rats, gray, red, and flying squirrels, chipmunks, wild mink, ferrets, shrews, beavers, muskrats, marmots, and gophers. . I’m sure there are others; I just haven’t seen them yet.
Why do we need to kill rodents?
If you own a vineyard, for example, gophers can mean a lot of money down the drain. Their burrows accumulate their root and soil systems, and they gnaw at vine stems causing the plants to die. Rats and mice can spread infectious diseases, such as hantavirus. They carry lice, fleas, mites, ticks, and other tiny critters on their skin and fur. As you can see, getting rid of mice and rats in our homes and on our farms is beneficial in many ways.
First generation rodent poison
Also known as rodenticides, they contain chemicals that specifically inhibit vitamin K, preventing the blood from clotting naturally. warfarin It is an active ingredient used in rodent baits. If you’ve ever had surgery and had to take a blood thinner to prevent clots afterward, chances are you ingested that chemical. When used to kill rodents, the animal’s blood becomes so diluted that it cannot carry the necessary oxygen to the brain, nervous system, and organs, and it dies.
First generation concoctions have a good destruction rate; however, it was thought that the bugs might develop a tolerance to it. So the World Health Organization got involved and called for the manufacture of something far more toxic. Imperial Chemical Industries of London complied and developed the new ‘super rodent killer’, also known as a second generation rodenticide.
Second-generation mouse and rat poisons kill much more slowly, but employ the same strategy: Vitamin K is inhibited to prevent blood from clotting. The rodent will back up by seconds, thirds, quarters, and so on. By the time the rodent dies, it will have ingested many times the lethal dose. Then it becomes a weapon of collateral destruction. There is nothing so tempting as a rat that staggers and is slow to flee. Any of their natural predators will also be poisoned after ingesting them. Those include owls, hawks, vultures, eagles, raccoons, foxes; and yes, even the family dog or cat! Wild birds that eat rodents and our pets are especially vulnerable; but all animals die horribly after ingesting second generation rodents.
Also, the death rate of rodents is high during the first 2 years of use of second generation poisons. After that, the tolerance level is quickly reached and the rodents multiply faster than ever! There is no backup plan.
Raptors that feed on the poisoned rodents, or feed them to their young, develop tumors, bleed through their skin, become too lethargic to hunt, and die from the effects of the poison or starve. Our natural biological controls, specifically owls, hawks and vultures, badgers, coyotes, cougars, bobcats, and skunks, among others, are being killed by poison at an alarming rate. In fact, 79.1 percent birds and mammals tested by Wildcarea rehab center in San Rafael, California, were positive for rodenticides (according Audubon MagazineJanuary-February 2013 edition).
What they are not telling us
Our precious children are being poisoned by this thing. Keeping the bait out of your immediate reach does not guarantee that children will not come into contact with it. Rodents take so long to die that they move around the house for days, dragging the bait with them on their feet, tails, and fur. This material remains stored in the liver, so it is not known how extensive its effects will be on our future generations.
Veterinarians will tell you about the high rate of poisoning in pets they see due to the use of these deadly chemical concoctions. Our pets are members of our family. Losing them like this and knowing that it could have been prevented is just unbearable. It is a very sad lesson to learn.
In 2008, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) stated that: “Second-generation rodenticides pose an unreasonable risk to children, pets, and wildlife.” He gave manufacturers 3 years to stop selling the deadliest rodent poison directly to homes. New York City strongly supports this order and agrees that the use of second-generation rodenticides for rodent control is unnecessarily risky to humans and wildlife. This is strong endorsement coming from a rodent infested metropolitan area!
BUT, the EPA left a giant loophole you could drive a train through: bulk sales, such as from farmers, and tamper-evident bait boxes used by exterminators were exempted from the cease-sales order. The result is that predators and scavengers are equally poisoned by rodents that have eaten from exterminators’ ‘sealed bait boxes’, or from bait set out by farmers.
To date, 26 of 29 manufacturers of second-generation mouse and rat baits have complied with the EPA order. The 3 that have refused to stop the production of these poisons are:
1. spectrum Group, a manufacturer of pet care products (ironically) as well as ‘hot shot’ baits for mice and rats with the active ingredient BRODIFACOUM, which is the deadliest to pets and wildlife.
2. Lipatech, producer of ‘Generation’, ‘Maki’, ‘Rozol’ and ‘d-Con’ containing BRODIFACOUM.
They also make Lysol, Woolite, and French’s Mustard!
3. Reckitt Benckiserwho is trying to take this to court, while innocent people continue to die.
How we can help stop the killing of our natural rodent controls and the poisoning of our children and pets:
Rodent traps:
USE safe alternatives to poison baits, such as old-fashioned multi-use snap traps or covered disposable snap traps (so you don’t have to see or touch the dead creature), which are available at the same store where the chemists are! toxic!
Humane Pest Traps: That’s what I use. Add peanut butter as bait and take the live rodent to a location at least a mile away to release it. You don’t want them ending up in your house! also domake sure the release site is away from homes or farms. Make sure you don’t cause trouble for someone else!
· Kills electronic rodents. These seem to have mixed results depending on where they are placed along with the actual point of rodent entry. Usually more than one is needed to cover the area in question. Very often, our attic is the center of mice, especially in the fall and spring. To make sure that the entire area receives the electronic shock wave that is the rodent repellent, we need to set up 6 devices. In this case, the use of a surge protector with 6 outputs is convenient.
· Make a habit of reading labels. DO NOT BUY RODENT BAITS that contain any of these active ingredients:
“BRODIFACOUM”, which it is especially harmful to pets and birds
“BROMADIOLONE”
“DIFETHIALONE”
“DIFENACOUM”
If you see any of these second generation killers on store shelves PLEASE RUN, DO NOT WALK towards the store manager. Alert you to the risks these indiscriminate killers pose to our children, pets, and wildlife. Its immediate removal is urgent!
· Contact EPA and advise them to cancel the ‘second generation rodenticide general use registration’: Email: [email protected] and see docket number: EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0718
Support ‘RATS’ ( RaptorsAreTheSolution.org )
Owls and birds of prey are extremely efficient at reducing rodent populations without using toxic media. Barn owls in particular benefit from nest boxes and are not territorial. If there is a lot of food, there will be no fights, just a feast of rodents!
Hungry Owl Project ( HungryOwl.org ) Volunteers from this organization build, distribute, install, monitor, and clean owl nest boxes. They are based in California, but will provide you with information on whether owl nest boxes would benefit your situation.
Be sure to pass this information on to anyone who may be considering the use of any rodenticide. You will be saving countless innocent lives and helping to restore the natural balance.
Fountain: Audubon Magazine, January-February 2013 issue; connie smith