About a month ago the United States rightfully recognized the bald eagle as the national bird, bestowing an honor that was long overdue. We’re hoping it motivates legislators and the public not to make the same mistake twice and let a toxic pesticide threaten its survival.
By 1963 there were a record-low 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles left because of the insecticide DDT, which caused eggshells to thin and easily break.
These days eagles, raptors and mammals are under siege from powerful, long-lasting second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) making their way up the food chain. They are dying from internal bleeding after consuming poisoned rodents who’ve taken the bait from those ubiquitous black boxes you see outside grocery stores, in housing developments and town parks, to mention a few.
In Connecticut where Friends of Animals is headquartered, we are asking people to stop using SGARs, four of the most deadly anticoagulant poisons, through our “Think Outside the Bait Box” public awareness campaign. Plus we have drafted and are advocating for legislation to ban the use and sale of SGARS in the state. We are bolstered that Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont are also trying to get rid of them.
California became the first state to put a moratorium on SGARS in 2020; and just recently the governor expanded it to include all blood-thinning rat poisons. And British Columbia’s temporary ban initiated in 2021 was made permanent in 2023.
As an organization that places wildlife and critical habitat protection at the core of its mission, we are sick and tired of getting videos of dying raptors from our wildlife rehabber friends, who by the way, are our state’s unsung heroes. Hawks, eagles, owls and others hemorrhaging, convulsing—suffering a slow agonizing death—after simply eating a meal they need to survive, is shameful for any state. What’s happening is the definition of animal cruelty and anyone who doesn’t support banning the use and sale of SGARs does support indiscriminate animal cruelty.
Once DDT was banned and the species was fully protected under the Endangered Species Act, however, eagle numbers began to rebound, gradually at first and then with increasing vigor. In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the bald from the federal endangered species list.
It’s alarming that between 2014 and 2018, a study of 303 deceased eagles found the two most common rodenticides in their bodies to be SGARs.
Since legislation was introduced in CT in 2022, the evidence that SGARS pose an unreasonable risk to wildlife continues to pile up. A Place Called Hope birds of prey rehab center in Killingworth is up to 100 completed tests (at the cost of $22,500) on killed birds and animals with 77 being positive for SGARS, including 4 bald eagles, 7 great horned owls, an endangered barn owl, and 56 hawks
Wildlife in Crisis Care and Conservation, the largest wildlife rehabilitation center in the state, has had entire families of hawks and owls brought to the center dying from these unnecessary poisons. The director estimates that at least 100 birds of prey and 40 foxes die in her care from SGARs annually.
“Unfortunately, rodenticide and pesticide ridden animals continue to come through our doors at even higher levels as time goes on,” she told me last month. “The most notable thing we’ve seen is an uptick in bald eagle poisonings as they move into suburban areas. The influx of new homeowners to CT in recent years has added to the problem. One of the first things new homeowners do is hire a pest control company and a lawn service, and they don’t realize they are using the most toxic poisons.”
Meanwhile, rodent problems stem from human behavior— poor sanitation practices and giving rodents access to shelter. Improving sanitation and installing exclusion removes rodent attractants.
Robert Corrigan, the worldwide expert on rats, is pressing people and municipalities to stop relying on poisons and instead improve the storage and management of trash at both commercial and residential properties, such as high-quality metal or heavy-duty plastic containers.
SGARs are also a threat to people and pets. There were 2,857 cases of human poisonings from long-acting anticoagulant rodenticides in 2023 by the American Assoc. of Poison Control Centers, including at least 2,025 involving children.
And in 2023, rodenticides were #8 on the list of Top 10 Pet Toxins nationally, and #9 in CT. More than 100 pets needlessly die each year due to rodenticide exposure, according to the EPA.
Don’t take the bait
The myth that pest management companies like to perpetuate is that disallowing them to use SGARS will cause rodent populations to explode. The truth is there have been no rodent outbreaks or public health crises in California—proof that we can protect wildlife without compromising public health.
British Columbia has seen no increase in rodent-borne disease since the restrictions were enacted, according to Ministry of Environment and Parks. Staff told us that British Columbian’s care deeply about raptors, which help form an important part of a balanced ecosystem. Following a series of owl poisonings linked to SGARs the ministry received a petition with 23,000 signatures calling for a ban on rodenticides.
While benefits from regulatory change can take some time to realize, initial indication is a decrease in the number of reported poisonings in BC. And birders in San Francisco have reported an uptick in barn owl sightings since SGARs were banned saying: They’re numbers have dramatically increased and are a now a relatively common year-round resident.
Giving us hope
We’re hoping that the bald eagle becoming our national bird with help raise awareness about raptors’ and other wildlife’s challenges and how humans can ease them.
It’s unimaginable that the bald eagle was once threatened with extinction because it was treated like a pest and killed by ranchers, displaced by logging and then harmed by the pesticide DDT.
Especially since I have had the privilege of seeing a pair of bald eagles in a golf course near my apartment in Fairfield County. I have lived in the area since 2001, and last year was the first time I’ve ever seen bald eagles.
It makes no sense to save bald eagles just to have them disappear again.
If you haven’t seen bald eagles in the wild, you don’t know what you’re missing. Check out this news list of best places to see them in the U.S.: