A woman’s walk early one frosty morning a couple of weeks ago took a sad turn when she stumbled upon a still bird lying on the grass under a tree. Tragically, the boobook owl was already dead.
Puzzled by the raptor’s lack of injuries, the West Gippsland, Victoria, resident took several photos of her holding the animal and asked experts online for help. While some suggested the cold weather or starvation could be to blame, many immediately pointed to the likely culprit — rat poison.
The grim discovery is just one of many that occur across the country every week, prompting an ominous warning to Aussies that we have “pushed our ecosystem to its limits”.
“I think we’re forgetting that there’s a balance that we’re destroying, and these are the consequences that we’re seeing of that, unfortunately,” WIRES Wildlife Vet Dr Tania Bishop told Yahoo News.
Wildlife carers have long been pleading for the ban of harmful second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARS), which persist in animal tissue after being ingested and therefore pose the risk of poisoning native mammals and owls. However, the problem only appears to be getting worse.
Last week, a delegation of environmental scientists specialising in the study of SGARS went to Parliament House to demand restrictions on the sale of the toxins, which are still sold at retailers like Bunnings.
The regulator, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) “has previously resisted all calls to regulate these products in Australia and yet, the dead owls are piling up in my lab freezer — literally 20 in the past two weeks,” Dr Robert Davis told WA Today at the time.
Why are there so many dead owls?
In 2023, WIRES rescuers had over 1,700 rescue and/or advice calls for raptors across NSW. Over the past five years, they have received the most calls for barn owls, followed by boobooks, wedge-tailed eagles and nankeen kestrels.
Dr Bishop, who has been a wildlife vet for about 25 years, told Yahoo the issue has been “gradually creeping up”.
“I think the rodenticides have got a lot to answer for,” she said, noting the detrimental effects they have had on not only owls but carpet pythons and possums.
However, Aussies are also “certainly constantly ruining the balance of nature” leading to further biodiversity loss. “You can see it in a lot of things,” the vet said, pointing to a “gradual decrease” of the insect population, and therefore birds like willy wagtails.
“So even some of our owl species that go for insects, there are less of them and when they go to swoop, you know, towards cars and things like that, sometimes they get collected, and then also get trapped in barbed wire.”
Aussies now noticing ‘things are disappearing’
The loss of insects can be attributed to “a mixture of poisoning and climate change”, Dr Bishop continued, warning “there’s only so much that we can keep destroying the environment at the rate that we are”.
“With insecticide use, people having absolutely pristine, perfect lawns and they’ve gotten rid of every sort of bug in them. I think we’re forgetting that there’s a balance that we’re destroying, and these are the consequences that we’re seeing of that,” she added, urging people to look for more natural deterrents.
With people “actually starting to notice that things are disappearing”, the vet said it’s time to “very seriously think about what our priorities are”.
“Do we want koalas around? We want greater gliders? Do we want owls? You know, how much do we value those things? Because if we do, we’ve got to really start to let the people in power know.”
How to safely remove rodents without harming wildlife
Poisons should always be a last resort for rodent control, BirdLife Australia says, and instead suggests using a non-toxic trap or lure or rodent-proofing materials like wire mesh. If a resident decides to use baits, they should avoid SGARs by ensuring active poison ingredients are sodium chloride, warfarin, coumatetatryl, or diphacinone.
Products that have a low predator poisoning risk, according to BirdLife Australia:
Non-Anticoagulant Rodenticides — Active Ingredient: Sodium Chloride
First-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides — Active Ingredient: Warfarin, Coumatetralyl, Diphacinone
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Bayer Racumin Rat and Mouse Blocks
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JT Eaton Apple Bait Block Rodenticide
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Parafarm Ratex Mouse and Rat Bait
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PCT Holdings Surefire Couma All Weather Blocks Rodenticide
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Ruth Consolidated Industries (RCI) Ratblitz bait
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Yates RATSAK Double Strength Bait Station
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