Please sign this petition only if you live or work in Beverly, Massachusetts. If you live elsewhere in Massachusetts, follow the link at the bottom to go to the statewide petition instead. Our local city governance won't respond to folks who aren't part of their constituency. 

Rats are bad, but poisons are worse. Beverly can do better. 

We need to ban SGARs (second generation anti coagulant rodenticides), and, as there is no wildlife or pet safe rodent poison, limit the use of other rodenticides as well.

SGARs are extremely dangerous for our ecosystem, wildlife, pets, and children. While exterminators say they will put the bait boxes in safe, secure places, it doesn’t matter where they put them, because poisoned rodents run out and routinely sicken and kill other animals and even children.

Wildlife reahabbers around the state are exhausted and defeated from trying to save poisoned wildlife that usually dies anyway (mostly hawks, owls, foxes, coyotes, and other predators). And, veterinarians also sound the alarm as they have to try to save sick pets who put a poisoned rodent in their mouths. This stuff is bad news for everyone, and should have been banned long, knowing what we know about it. People need to understand the harm they are doing when they use SGARS.

As for non -SGAR rodenticide, there is NO proven pet safe or wildlife safe rodenticide, only poisons that are less lethal to pets and wildlife. These non-SGAR rodenticides are less likely to bioaccumulate and kill hawks and owls and foxes, as well as cats and dogs, but they are not proven safe to those animals, and secondary poisoning is still possible. Exterminators are fond of saying that their rodenticide is safe or that they will tuck it into a safe place, but they benefit from saying this, because pest control that relies on poisons relies on exterminators, forever. Especially as it kills off the competition, which are wild predators.

SGARS should never be used, while non SGAR rodenticides can be used in the short term to control an extreme infestation, with notification to all who could possibly be impacted (neighbors within a reasonable radius based on how far poisoned animals can travel), but should not be a long term solution or front line of defense, and should most certainly not be required of developers.

Further, many non -SGAR poisons are even more acutely toxic than SGARs, should a non target animal or child come into contact with the substance itself. 

Please consider banning SGARs, even on private property, since poisoned rodents don’t observe property lines, and please consider using a city plan that does not rely on any poisons and discourage their use. There are better methods that will attain more lasting results - such as better enforcement of trash containment rules, rodent proof dumpsters, and rodent proof downtown trash barrels instead of open ones.

Here is an article and linked petition regarding the effort to ban SGARS statewide, put forth by Harvard University and some well known local wildlife rehabbers:https://animal.law.harvard.edu/news-article/rodenticides-are-killing-massachusetts-wildlife-will-authorities-step-up/

Here is an educational website about rodent poisons: https://raptorsarethesolution.org/

Here is a petition circulating to ban the use of SGARs statewide. https://www.change.org/p/ban-the-use-of-sgars-in-massachusetts

Thank you for your consideration.