There are many possible causes of owl mortality besides rodenticides.

Testing a fresh owl carcass for cause of death can be quite expensive. For

example, the Animal Diagnostics Lab at LSU charges $169 for a necropsy,

plus accession and shipping fees. Want to test for anticoagulant

rodenticides? $67. Want to look for the neurotoxic rodenticide Bromethalin?

$34. How about West Nile Virus? $53. Avian influenza? $46. Etc. As you

can see, costs mount quickly, which explains the scarcity of tested

carcasses.

Regarding anticoagulant rodenticides (AR), we at Urban Raptor

Conservancy are collaborating with PAWS Wildlife Center on the first

systematic study in raptors in Washington State. We are testing recently

dead hawks and owls for AR exposure. This is an expensive study. We are

applying for grants and gratefully accept private donations as well. For

more information, see:

https://urbanraptorconservancy.org/research/rodenticides-in-raptors-

project/

Ed Deal

Urban Raptor Conservancy

https://urbanraptorconservancy.org/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20190920/27c34ec3/attachment.html>