Anticoagulant Rodenticide Free Florida 

The truth about Anticoagulant Rat Poisons is that it kills more than just rats, it kills owls and other birds of prey and wildlife that are not the targets. Despite claims by some in the pest control industry, there is no such thing as a “safe” anticoagulant rat poison and no such thing as a safe “dose”, either. Dozens of scientific studies have found these rat poisons are present in the tissues of a wide variety of wildlife, including owls, eagles, panthers with both 1st and 2nd generation anticoagulant poisons in their tissues and liver. It is killing many more wildlife than anyone realizes. 

Anticoagulant rat poison also kills pets—dogs and cats eat a mouse or a rat and they, too, are poisoned, causing a slow and painful death. Mostly it kills the very wildlife that helps us control rats and mice, our beautiful owls and raptors including eagles and any animal that eats rats as their food source.

Anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning has become an epidemic across the United States and Canada. California has put a moratorium  on their use while the state reevaluates them and we want Florida to follow suit and ban or severely restrict all anticoagulants, both first and second-generation products.  

Help us make a real difference today by: 

1.)    Signing this petition

2.)    UPDATE 2/14/23: The EPA’s open comment period has expired on 02/13/2023 and comments can no longer be posted.  I’m keeping this petition open until the outcome from the EPA is announced.  

***Original request: Help Ban Rodenticide in Florida by sending letters to the EPA during the open comment period, which is now through 2/13/2023. 

Here are the direct links to submit your EPA letters. You can copy and paste the same letter into each of the following seven (7) EPA letters. We encourage you to submit all seven (7) EPA letters for the Active ingredients below, but if you don’t have time to submit all seven (7), please submit one (1) from First Generation and one (1) from the Second-generation list below.  

First Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides:

1.)    Chlorophacinone

2.)    Diphacinone and its sodium salt

3.)    Warfarin and its sodium salt

Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides:

4.)    Brodifacoum

5.)    Bromadiolone

6.)    Difenacoum

7.)    Difethialone

Death by Poison

These chemicals are usually found in rat bait stations, those hundreds of shoebox size black boxes you see around buildings and dumpsters. The rats and mice do not die inside the stations but instead die after eating the bait. They go back into the wild, where it can take more than a week for them to die. Weakened from internal bleeding, poisoned rodents become easy prey to other animals who rely on rats for their food. The rats become a toxic ticking time bomb for any animal that eats them. 

Our Safety Harbor, Florida community has witnessed first-hand the devastation of these chemicals; an entire family of five Great Horned Owls that were well-loved and photographed for years and died from anticoagulant poisoning in a matter of months in Spring of 2022. Our community worked tirelessly to remove the poison to try to save the remaining owls, but we could not save even one. You can see the photographs of our beautiful owls by clicking here .

Four of the five members of the owl family died by eating rats that had been poisoned with anticoagulant rodenticides. All four deaths were attributed to those poisons based on necropsies and, in some cases, residue analysis in livers and tissues of the owls. We tried to rescue the fifth member of Oliver's owl family, Daisy, but were unsuccessful and she later went missing. Therefore, we don't know her fate. This is just one example of poisoning, as many, many more owls who were not watched as closely as ours were found and continue to be found dead or dying in surrounding communities for the same reason, anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning!

We are not saying ban all rat poison! There are other chemicals and options that are equally effective that do not kill secondary animals. That’s what’s so frustrating about this, this tragedy is entirely preventable if humans made a difference.

O(wls) – This is a picture gallery of the owl family that was so well known and loved in our community.

W(ebsite) Reach us at www.safetyharborowls.weebly.com : Which also contains details on how to submit letters to the EPA by February 13, 2023.

L(earn) more: Raptors are the Solution

S(afety) Harbor Strong Owl & Nature Facebook group. Join our Facebook group Safety Harbor Strong Owl & Nature Group & follow our journey. You'll find over 2,000 concerned citizens who care about owls and wildlife there. 

Resources: Birds in Helping Hands  (Pinellas County FL)

Recent featured front page newspaper story from the Tampa Bay Times about the owls.