A big win for wildlife
We have had a significant win for wildlife recently with Bunnings announcing all second generation rodenticides to be removed from their shelves by the end of June this year.
For many years wildlife carers and researchers have voiced their concerns about rodenticides and the effects we see in our native animals who either consume baits directly or just as commonly, through secondary poisoning from eating baited rodents.
The two types of anticoagulant rodenticides used in Australia are known as first generation anticoagulant rodenticides (FGARs) and second generation (SGARs). Although the type which is finally being banned are all SGARs, FGARs are not good for non target species either and can definitely cause issues and be fatal to our wildlife as well.
First generation poisons use different toxins to the second generation poisons. The main difference, although both are anticoagulants, SGARs only need one dose to be lethal to rodents, while FGARs need rodents to consume several doses over a few days to eventually kill them. This is why SGARs are more commonly used by consumers these days as they kill with one dose.
SGARs can accumulate in non target species like birds through secondary poisoning. This means a single dose may not be fatal to animals who consume baited rodents, but as the toxins are stored in the body, eventually weeks later and sometimes even a couple of years later, these toxins cause illness and death.
While both types of rat poison use ingredients that can be fatal to our wildlife, SGARs take a lot longer to break down in an animal who has consumed baited rodents, therefore the cumulative effect is greater. In birds it is estimated that SGARs are retained in the liver for at least up to a year as opposed to FGARs which last in the liver for just over a month.
Simple thing to remember is that FGARs take longer to kill rodents and break down quicker than SGARs.
You might think that both types of rodenticides sound like bad news for wildlife ... and you would be right!
If you have witnessed secondary poisoning in wildlife, you would know that it isn’t pretty.
If you are concerned about toxins like rodenticides causing secondary poisoning in wildlife, you should be equally concerned with the use of any toxic substances and the impact on our environment. Pesticides and herbicides are all equally damaging to both native animals and insect life and always harm much more than the species we intend to target. We see secondary poisoning from products like Snail bait in our native reptile species in urban areas and loss of native insect species can be a direct result of using herbicides and pesticides, both on our gardens and on a much greater scale, our modern day agricultural practices.
I realise most people look for a quick and easy solution for eradication of pests and weeds, but we really need to be smarter in what we are releasing into our environment and into the food chain from the ground up.
We are a non poison household here, including both pesticides and herbicides. The only solution involves a bit more work but the end result is the same, just without the damage.
Please use traps, whether they be live traps or the old snap traps or rat and mouse zappers instead of baiting.
Keep in mind that every substance you use which is toxic, for whatever reason you use it, has the potential to harm or kill native creatures.
This announcement by our pesticide regulator to recommend banning SGARs is a welcome one and it’s great that Bunnings are leading the way by taking them off the shelf first due to pressure from a public petition, but individually we still need to do much better.
Think before you use that next poison product because I can guarantee that you are harming way more than the packaging says you are eliminating.
Our actions have consequences and taking a different approach may be more time consuming but it isn’t going to kill us, where the alternative quick fixes that poisons promise us, cost the lives of those we often don’t see.
