Subject: U.S. Govt reviewing owl AND CAT killing pesticide
Date: Feb 5 08:57:54 2004
From: David Parent DVM - dpdvm at whidbey.com


Stewart and Tweets,

Secondary rodenticide poisoning, that is, toxicity to a predator from
ingesting a poisoned rodent, is very rare except for predators which subsist
on large numbers of rodents.

Many raptors swallow small mice whole and thus absorb any nutrients (and
toxins!) contained in the stomach and intestines. Most domestic cats kill
and eat rodents for recreation only. Most of their diet is cat food. (The
exceptions are barn and feral cats that don?t get any food from humans) Cats
also usually discard the stomach and intestines before they eat the rodent.
Other body tissues of the rodent do not contain significant amounts of
rodenticide and toxicity would be expected only if the cat subsists entirely
on poisoned rodents.

I see quite a few cases of anticoagulant rodenticide ingestion (all dogs who
just eat the bait - cats are a lot more picky!) but I don't think I've ever
seen a secondary toxicity in a domestic animal. I live and work in a rural
area where rodenticides are widely used.

Dave Parent, DVM, Freeland, WA mailto; dpdvm at whidbey.com

-----Original Message-----
From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
[mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Stewart Wechsler
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 10:53 PM
To: marthaburdick at hotmail.com
Cc: tweeters; huntfor1 at cox.net
Subject: RE: U.S. Govt reviewing owl AND CAT killing pesticide

This may be an ideal time to mention a forbidden subject: Cats.
?
I'd like to suggest that people who write the EPA to suggest banning this
owl killing poison also mention that it may kill (I expect it does kill)
CATS.? If we engage enough cat lovers to work with those of us who have a
special love for owls, I think we might be able to get this poison banned.
?
Stewart Wechsler
West Seattle
mailto:ecostewart at quidnunc.net
?
?
-----Original Message-----
From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
[mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of martha burdick
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 7:05 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: U.S. Govt reviewing owl-killing pesticide
Forwarded from Owlpages.com (by the way, a very good owl site)
?
-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Forster [mailto:huntfor1 at cox.net]
Sent: 31 January 2004 15:06
To: deane at owlpages.com
Subject: U.S. Gov reviewing owl-killing pesticide
Deane -
I am new to owlpages but I just thought your U.S. readers should know: The
EPA is reviewing the current regulations for several rat poisons that have
been killing hundreds of birds of prey and owls in particular.
I wrote a comment to the EPA.??Some of your readers may also want to. Here
is the link.
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/rodenticidecluster/
I discovered this after having lost one of our nesting pair of barn owls to
pesticide. :(????The un-coagulanted blood coming from it's mouth makes me
think it was Brodifacoum.
I've attached a picture of the poor dead owl - in case it might motivate
people to take action.??It is a sad picture but it is something we owl
lovers need to face and act to stop it.
Picture posted at:
http://www.owlpages.com/id/forster.html
Thanks for anything you can do to help!
Ron Forster
Escondido (San Diego)
California



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