CENTERVILLE, Mass. — Wildlife officials are asking the public to refrain from using chemical rodenticides that have been suspected in poisoning wild birds, including three hawks and a family of owls in Centerville recently.
“I’m pretty sure that people use that outside in their yard and they don’t realize that this could happen,” said Zak Mertz, executive director of the Cape Cod branch of the New England Wildlife Center in Barnstable.
Two owls have since died of suspected poisoning; one owl and three hawks are currently being treated at the Barnstable center, Mertz said.
A local resident on Cape Cod alerted the center’s wildlife rescue team to sick owls that were nesting in a tree in her yard last week. The team went out and rescued the first owlet, or baby owl, using a bucket truck, and that owl later died. The second owlet was found dead in the tree.
“One came in just covered in blood, we did emergency blood transfusions. It was so sad,” Mertz said. “Despite our best efforts on that one, he did not make it. The other (owl) that came in deceased was one of the parents, and that one had a lot of bruising and blood. We suspected rodenticide.”
The team rescued a third owlet that is currently being cared for by the center’s staff, Mertz said.
Mertz said the wildlife, who search the area for food including rodents, become ill when they feed off of a rodent that has been poisoned.
“What it is most likely is rodenticide, this is someone either commercial or personal use, putting out rat poison out there,” Mertz said.
The mice and rats eating it get sick and die, as do the owls who then feed off of those mice and rats, he said.
“Anything that makes its meal out of a mouse or a rat can get into this stuff,” Mertz said.
While there are several different rodenticides being sold, Mertz said “the ones that we’re focusing on are anti-coagulant rodenticides. Those are the ones we see the effects of in our hospital.”
He recommends that residents begin by using rodent deterrents, such as blocking all holes and filling in crawl spaces and then using rodent traps, instead of using chemical rodenticides.
That way “at least you’re only affecting one animal at a time,” he said.
Mertz said the team recently had to do a full blood transfusion on another barn owl from Nantucket that was suspected of being poisoned by rodenticide. The blood transfusion “with him, it worked,” Mertz said.
But for other wildlife, which can include foxes and other animals who eat rodents, the outcomes are not as positive.
“If you can avoid using anti-coagulant rodenticides, you’ll end up saving a lot of wildlife,” Mertz said.
Center officials said the New England Wildlife Center is a nonprofit organization that helps care for and treat animals suffering medical emergencies.
Anyone wishing to donate to help the center care for the owls and other wildlife birds that are now being treated for suspected rodenticide poisoning may visit here.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
