Thanks to your support, the California Ecosystems Protection Act (AB 1788) – a bill to protect wild animals including bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, owls and hawks from anticoagulant rodenticides (rat poison) – has passed three committees in the Assembly! The full Assembly could vote on this bill as early as tomorrow. Rat poison destroys ecosystems and indiscriminately poisons native wildlife who eat poisoned rodents. Wild animals need your voice to protect them from these inhumane and unnecessary poisons.
Please act today—contact your Assembly Member and ask him or her to vote YES on AB 1788.
Go here to find your Assembly Member’s phone number and email address (or online comment form). You can simply say, “As your constituent, I urge you to vote YES on AB 1788, the California Ecosystems Protection Act. This bill will protect California’s wildlife and ecosystems from cruel and destructive rat poisons. Thank you for considering this critical legislation.”
Please personalize your message to have maximum impact.
Additional Talking Points:
- This bill targets only the most dangerous rodenticides. It would abolish the use of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) in California, with exceptions for agricultural activities and by special permit. It would also ban first generation anticoagulant rodenticides (FGARs) on state-owned lands.
- Anticoagulant rodenticides have widespread and detrimental impacts on the very carnivores who help regulate rodent populations – including bobcats, coyotes, foxes, hawks, eagles, and owls. Rodenticides are counterproductive to long-term pest management solutions for rodent control because they destroy the health of California’s ecosystems by indiscriminately poisoning, harming and killing native wildlife who eat poisoned rodents.
- Data from UCLA, the National Park Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife demonstrate that more than 80 percent of native carnivore species including bobcats, coyotes, foxes and cougars, as well as spotted owls, Pacific fishers, and other endangered animals, have been exposed to these poisons. In March, a mountain lion who died in the wilderness west of Los Angeles had six compounds of a rat poison in his or her system.
- Rodenticides can cause a slow, agonizing death for the animals who ingest them and can weaken their immune systems, making them more vulnerable to mange and other diseases.
- In addition to harming wildlife, anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs and FGARs) pose a dangerous risk to children who may accidentally ingest these highly toxic poisons. Between 1999 and 2009, the American Association of Poison Control Centers received reports of an average of 17,000 human exposures to rodenticides each year, and roughly 15,000 of those exposures occurred in children less than six years of age.
- Rodenticides are one of the top ten pet toxins.
- At least 29 jurisdictions in California have passed resolutions discouraging stores from selling rodenticides.
- There are more humane, safer alternatives to deadly rat poison, including sealing buildings and eliminating food attractants, repellents and sterilization techniques.
Read Marilyn Krieger’s article Rat Poisons Aren’t Selective here.
Thank you for speaking up for California’s wildlife!
Camilla Fox
Founder & Executive Director