H.326 was supposed to regulate the state’s usage of pellet poison
By Kate Kampner, for the Community News Service
A pellet a day keeps the rodents away, but also owls, hawks, coyotes and other wild animals.
A rodent that ingests rodenticide becomes a toxic trap for the birds and mammals that prey on them, leading to thousands of wild animals being poisoned, sometimes lethally, every year.
H.326 and H.758 were two bills in the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry that pushed to ban or regulate the use of rodenticides. The bills address anticoagulant rodenticides, which target a rodent’s vitamin K and cause internal hemorrhaging.
“We were going to change the policies around which people could have access to varying tiers of rodenticides,” Rep. Michelle Bos-Lun, D-Windham-3, said.
H.326, a short-form bill that came after H.758, did not cross over to the Senate, leaving those affected by rodenticides still in harm’s way.
“Our committee worked really hard on this bill,” Bos-Lun said. “It was one of my top three that I wanted to pass.”
She said that although many humans can be poisoned by rodenticides, “the more substantial harm is on wildlife.”
Carnivores that hunt rodents become victims of secondary poisoning, also known as “relay toxicosis.” If the prey they’ve eaten has consumed a rodenticide, they too are affected by the pellet.
The most common symptom of relay toxicosis is internal bleeding, but many mammals with fur coats can be at risk of mange, said Sarah Gorsline, the Vermont representative and multimedia associate of Project Coyote, a national nonprofit promoting coexistence with carnivores and people.
In the Northeast, she said, animals falling victim to mange could die from winter conditions because their coats are compromised. These deaths also impact Vermont hunters looking for these fur-coated mammals, she added.
But Gorsline has heard opposition from the farming community, which relies heavily on rodenticides, during her advocacy.
“Switching away from rodenticides is a big lift,” Gorsline said.
Julianna Parker, wildlife rehabber for the Otter Creek Wildlife Rescue in Addison, said she has seen similar lobbying.
In addition to rehabilitating animals from rodenticide poisoning, her job is to educate people on the subject. Parker said many people who use rodenticide aren’t aware of its consequences.
While Parker said she’d prefer that people use non-lethal means of dealing with rodents, she also recognized that some people can’t be swayed. She recently started researching RatX, a non-toxic rodenticide that dehydrates the rodent rather than poisoning it, as a potential alternative for those who are determined to use lethal means.
“We’re trying to come up with alternatives to offer people, so we’re not just saying, ‘Don’t do this.’ … We’re saying, ‘Do this instead.’” she said.
“If you have some respect for wildlife, please stop doing this,” Parker added.
Parker has witnessed many birds and mammals bleeding out after injury because the anticoagulant rodenticides prevent blood from drying up.
“So any kind of injuries become really dangerous really fast,” she said.
Many of these predators that go after mice, such as barn owls, are responsible for removing 1,000 to 3,000 rodents a year.
“Unfortunately, the use of rodenticide chemicals, because they have this relay toxicosis problem, can actually in the long term increase the rodent population in an area, simply because the natural predators are gone,” Anna Morris at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science said.
Morris recommended integrated pest management — a tactic that seals off the entrances and exits rodents travel through — as an alternative to rodenticides, as well as cleaning up food and using mechanical traps.
She also said experts are beginning to research implementing rat birth control.
“Unfortunately for rodenticides specifically, not only do they cause an overpopulation of rodents in the long term, but they are also destructive for wildlife,” Morris said.
Despite H.326’s failure to cross over, all three wildlife experts believe there is hope for a rodenticide phase-out.
“It’s such a tragic loss,” Parker said.
Gorsline said there’s a long shot that similar language from H.326 may make an appearance in another bill.
“It may still be something that’s in play,” she said.
Back at the State House, Bos-Lun said rodenticide regulation will most likely be discussed next session.
Morris, at the nature center, was similarly optimistic.
“Even if the bill doesn’t make it through this session, it gives me hope that this is something that people really care about and maybe it will organically, one day just become an obvious thing to do,” she said.
Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship