POISONED

Necropsy of dead mountain lion finds six different types of anticoagulants



UNNATURAL CAUSES—Above, a picture taken March 21, the day the mountain lion dubbed P-47 was discovered dead in the Santa Monica Mountains; at left, a photo of the 3-year-old male in his heyday. Rat poisons have been blamed for the big cat’s death. Photos courtesy of National Park Service

UNNATURAL CAUSES—A picture taken March 21, the day the mountain lion dubbed P-47 was discovered dead in the Santa Monica Mountains; below, a photo of the 3-year-old male in his heyday. Rat poisons have been blamed for the big cat’s death. Photos courtesy of National Park Service

A new bill that expands the prohibition of pesticide poisons in California passed the Assembly on Monday, days after the National Park Service announced that a local mountain lion had died in March due to ingesting large amounts of rat poison.

Assembly Bill 1788, introduced by Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) bans the use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, which are used in some bait boxes and brand-name types of rat bait.

The second-generation poisons are considered far more potent than the first-generation compounds—a lethal dose can be ingested in a single feeding. But even the first-generation forms have been blamed for the deaths of local predators, who unknowingly ingest the toxins by eating smaller animals who prey on poisoned rats.

Latest victim

The 3-year-old male puma known as P-47 was found dead March 21, officials from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area said.

 

His death was discovered when the cougar’s GPS collar sent out a mortality signal and led biologists to the central section of the mountain range, where the animal’s body was found, park ranger Ana Beatriz reported on social media.

An examination indicated the cougar died due to rodenticide poisoning, Beatriz said. After biologists tested the puma’s liver discovered the cat had been exposed to six types of rat poison, all likely passed on by small predators (foxes, raccoons and coyotes) that were consumed by the 150-pound animal.

Testing showed P-47 was bleeding internally in his head and lungs.

When the cougar was captured by the park service in early 2018, he was the second-largest mountain lion ever tracked in the 17-year history of park service study, biologists said.

Beth Pratt, California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, said it was heartbreaking that, after surviving the Woolsey fire, inbreeding and the freeways, P-47 was killed by rat poison.

“To die from something we could have prevented is tragic to me,” she said.

Danger to predators

DEATH TRAP—A bait box containing rat poison sits outside a home in Agoura Hills. Although the boxes are legal, National Park Service officials are calling on property and business owners to use different methods of rodent control that don’t threaten local wildlife, including mountain lions. SYLVIE BELMOND/Acorn Newspaper

DEATH TRAP—A bait box containing rat poison sits outside a home in Agoura Hills. Although the boxes are legal, National Park Service officials are calling on property and business owners to use different methods of rodent control that don’t threaten local wildlife, including mountain lions. SYLVIE BELMOND/Acorn Newspapers

There have been several recorded cases of predators—not just cougars but coyotes and bobcats as well—dying as a result of rodenticide poisoning.

Typically, it is a slow and painful death, scientists say. As the poison builds in their system, the animals develop internal bleeding, mange and a number of other symptoms before they die.

New law

In light of the ongoing public campaign to stem the use of anticoagulant rodenticide, California lawmakers have been looking at additional bans.

Last year, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and the Santa Monica Mountains Fund launched Break the Poison Chain, an educational campaign to raise awareness about the devastation to wildlife due to the poisons.

Animal protection groups have also shared information on alternative methods of rodent control, such as trapping.

Poison Free Malibu has been advocating for a ban on anticoagulant rat poison for years, and now an offshoot in Agoura Hills has taken up the cause.

Carolyn Trocino, an Old Agoura resident and president of the year-old nonprofit Poison Free Agoura, said her group, like others, is focused on education.

“What we are doing is providing an alternative to rodenticides,” she said. “Rats want food, shelter and water. It’s all about repelling, excluding and deterring them.”

AB 1788, works in tandem with the California Ecosystems Protection Act of 2019 and expands the prohibition against anticoagulant pesticides in wildlife habitat areas throughout the state.

“It’s upsetting that we have to endure another tragic loss for public awareness on rodenticides to begin to turn the corner,” Paul Edelman, deputy director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, said. “Sadly, (P-47) is just the tip of the iceberg of scores of uncollared predators dying every month.”

Park service biologists made note in a recent report about another challenge facing the mountain lions of the Santa Monica Mountains: mange.

Although big cats generally don’t get mange, the report said, five cases of the parasitic skin and hair disease have been reported in mountain lions since 2002. Most recently P-53, a female cougar, was treated for mange.

Additional studies at UCLA indicate that animals poisoned by rodenticides have weakened immune systems, and scientists are conducting research to determine if there’s a connection between the ingestion of rat poison and the development of mange.

Two previous mountain lions that were caught and treated for mange, P-3 and P-4, died from uncontrolled bleeding as a result of eating prey that had been poisoned by anticoagulant rodenticide, biologists said.

The poison has been found in 20 of 22 local cougars tested by the National Park Service, including a 3-month-old kitten, NPS officials said.

Alternatives

But if communities choose to forgo anticoagulants, what’s to keep rodents from invading homes and businesses?

A National Park Service website suggests using snap traps, electric traps or ultrasonic repellents. They also suggest properly securing backyards, gardens and homes and doing everything possible to eliminate the food waste that attracts the rodents.

Ray Sobrino, who operates a Thousand Oaks-based termite and pest control business, said nonpoison options aren’t as effective as the agencies are making them out to be.

“The reason being is that I feel that it’s a faster kill for the rat (when using anticoagulants),” he said. “What happens is that if you take it away and go to conventional trapping and exclusions, they breed faster than if you use poisons,” he said.

Sobrino said he loves animals and the national parks but the public can’t “expect a miracle overnight.”

“If you’re going to take (poisons) away, rats are going to inbreed and overpopulate and cause a lot of problems,” he said.

Sobrino said he thinks the bigger danger is the improper use of anticoagulant rodenticides by members of the public who haven’t been trained how to use the poison in a manner that decreases the potential threat to wildlife.

“You’ve got to train for at least 30 days and then take the state licensing exam (to properly use them),” he said.

For information on controlling rat populations without the use of toxins, go to nps.gov/samo/learn/management/take-action-againstanticoagulantrodenticides.htm.