NEW CALIFORNIA LAW PROVIDES STRONGEST RAT POISON RESTRICTIONS IN NATION

Northern spotted owl and other wildlife can suffer from secondary poisoning after eating a rodent that has been poisoned. 

Photo Credit: Tom Kogut

95% of mountain lions and 88% of birds of prey tested by Calif. Dept. of Fish and Game had exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides, which can be deadly to predators that consume poisoned rodents.

By Miriam Raftery

September 25, 2024 (Sacramento, CA) -- Gov. Gavin Newsom signed tighter rat poison restrictions into law today, expanding an existing moratorium to include all blood-thinning rat poisons, known as anticoagulant rodenticides. The Poison-Free Wildlife Act, or Assembly Bill 2552, offers the strongest protections in the country against these toxic rat poisons, which unintentionally harm and kill wildlife.

“This important legislation shows why California is an environmental leader. We’re willing to fight for wildlife protections,” said J.P. Rose, Urban Wildlands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Birds, foxes and pumas shouldn’t be sacrificed every time there’s a pest problem. It’s a relief to know the deadliest rat poisons will soon be off the market here.”

But not everyone supports the new law.  Renee Pinel is president and CEO of the Western Plant Health Association, a pro-pesticide organization.

“At a time when rodent populations are surging in California, AB 2552 threatens to remove essential tools used by pest control operators and local governments to manage these dangerous pests,” Pinel wrote in an editorial published by Times of San Diego, noting that rats can spread diseases. Pinel observed that even before the new law’s passage,  San Diego was ranked the 28^th “rattiest city in America” by Orkin in 2023. A prolific pair of rats can produce up to 15,000 descendants in a single year,  National Geographic has reported.

A.B. 2552 builds upon existing legislation that set restrictions on certain kinds of anticoagulant rodenticides. But secondary poisoning is still widespread, with many imperiled species including mountain lions, San Joaquin kit foxes and northern spotted owls needlessly harmed or killed. Wild animals that eat poisoned rodents get poisoned themselves and suffer from internal bleeding, mange or organ failure. Some are so sick they are unable to find food or avoid predators.

A recent California Department of Fish and Wildlife study found that 88% of raptors and 95% of mountain lions tested had exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides.

“If we use these poisons, we poison one of the very best solutions to rodent control,” said Lisa Owens Viani, director of Raptors Are The Solution. “With the passage of A.B. 2552, our birds of prey will be much safer.”

A.B. 2552, which is sponsored by the Center, Raptors Are The Solution and Animal Legal Defense Fund, would restrict the sale and use of first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides chlorophacinone and warfarin.

The moratorium would still allow for rodenticide use to protect agriculture, water supplies and public health.

“We are thrilled that California wildlife will be given a reprieve from another unnecessary threat to their already difficult co-existence with humans,” said Jennifer Hauge, Animal Legal Defense Fund senior legislative affairs manager. “May this new comprehensive moratorium on all anticoagulant rodenticides in the state lead the way for the same innovation across the country where wildlife are also embattled.”

There are other effective ways to manage a rodent infestation that don’t involve using toxic rat poisons that harm other animals, advocates say. Among these are exclusion (such as sealing holes that allow rodents to enter homes), sanitation, fertility control and a variety of traps.

To learn more about these alternatives, visit this page, or find myths and facts about the Poison-Free Wildlife Act at this page.