People power has been in play to save birds from being poisoned by lethal rodenticides which also have the capacity to kill pets and harm children.
Thousands of animal lovers have in recent year been campaigning to have the distribution of a new generation of rat and mice poisons restricted and now they have a cause for celebration.
After receiving more than 10,000 submissions from Birdlife Australia supporters along with members of other wildlife organisations, the authority governing the use and sale of what are termed second generation anti-coagulant rodenticides (SGARs) has decided to act.
Another campaign saw petitions sent to leading hardware stores and supermarkets which stock the rodenticide products and these have also announced they will restrict the sale of the rodenticides in future.
The Bunnings group alone received a petition signed by 40,000 customers. Late last year Amazon heeded the customer campaign and barred the products from its catalogue.
After a comprehensive three-year review, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA is to recommend to the government that the rodenticides be only available to registered pest control companies and their use be strictly controlled.
In many regions overseas, including Britian and the European Union, Canada and parts of the United States, access to these poisons has already been tightened to protect wildlife.
SGARs were developed in the 1980s to combat growing resistance by rodents to first-generation rodenticides. These new poisons don’t break down quickly in the environment, meaning each time a non-target animal eats a rat or mouse, they will accumulate more poison in their body.
Sometimes the poisons will directly kill birds and animals by making them slowly bleed out but often they make non-target species so sick they get hit by cars or become unable to hunt.
It is not only wildlife that is affected. Pets can consume bait directly or by eating wildlife exposed to it. Campaigners have long argued that children could also be at risk by mistakenly consuming the brightly coloured baits in gardens.
SGARs have killed untold numbers of wild animals over the years. Birds of prey are particularly vulnerable, most notably owls and tawny frogmouths which target rodents at night.
In one study involving two areas of Western Australia it was found 100 per cent of masked owls whose blood was tested were found to contain residues of the poisons.
Although it’s a national issue, for Tasmania the stakes are even higher. Tasmanian ecosystems are smaller, the state’s apex predators fewer, and every death can shift the balance. When a masked owl – an endangered species -– dies from rodenticide exposure, the impact extends beyond one individual. Its mate is left without support, breeding may fail, and the territory loses a key predator
Before a ban is officially enforced consumers should avoid all SGARs products. These have the ingredients: brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difethialone, difenacoum or flocoumafen.