Tasmanian devils and quolls among affected species
Tasmanian devils and other endangered Australian marsupial species are ingesting significant amounts of rat poison. A new study published in Science of the Total Environment found that anticoagulant rodenticides used by homeowners to control household pests are killing a number of native species. Half of the species tested for these rodenticides were found positive, while a fifth of the tested species had more than one rat poison in their bodies. Endangered wildlife like the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) and the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) were particularly susceptible, with significant numbers predicted to die from exposure. Tasmanian devils and four quoll species tested make up the five largest marsupial predators in Australia. They likely ingest this poison by eating dead rodents targeted by homeowners. “Australia is an outlier on this issue. In European and North American nations, these products are restricted to use by licensed pest controllers and banned for home use,” the authors of the study write in a piece in The Conversation. “Some nations have gone further and banned these poisons altogether.”
