Poison has consequences for many wild creatures

If you’re using poison to kill mice and pack rats on your property, please stop. You are killing the owls and other animals that prey on rodents. If pack rats are getting into your engine, put a two-by-six under your hood to prop it open 6 inches and secure it with a bungee cord. That’s all you need to do to keep them out.

I posted this notice in my neighborhood and at our local library. I felt badly about this little brown speckled owl that I found in my backyard under a bush. A new neighbor, recently relocated from the city, admitted to putting out poison pellets for the pack rats. She agreed to stop and try our two-by-six remedy for the pack rats, which can be an expensive problem.

People either put out poison or call in a pest control company to do it for them. There are reputable pest control companies who practice integrated pest management (aka pest proofing) rather than just put out poison traps or worse yet, cruel and inhumane glue boards to immobilize the mouse until it dies from exhaustion struggling to get free.

If you hire a pest control company, by all means quiz them to find out exactly what they plan to do. In most cases, you can do the job yourself. The most humane method is curiosity traps like Tin Cat or Repeater that will collect several mice that can then be released back into the wild, away from your house. If you can stand the gruesomeness of it, snap traps will do the job, but be sure to bait them with gumdrops or Tootsie Rolls that will stick to the mouse’s teeth and not get nibbled and licked away. Whatever you do, do not put out poison pellets inside or out.

If it’s in your house, the mouse could crawl off and die in some hidden place and stink to high heaven. If you put poison around outside, you will endanger your pets, children (some baits look like candy) and other animals that feed on the poisoned mice. They will drag their weakened selves off and make easy prey to owls, coyotes, your dog or cat. And it won’t work. For every rodent you kill, there will be a new one to fill the vacancy you created. You will be starting a destructive cycle that will ripple through the environment causing death and disease far beyond the poison pellet. Coyotes who eat poisoned mice have weakened immune systems leading to all kinds of diseases.

I hope you’re now thoroughly alarmed and sworn to never use rodenticides. Don’t despair. Visit naturalcleaningguide. com for 10 nontoxic methods to get rid of mice, ranging from peppermint oilsoaked cotton balls to instant potatoes to dryer sheets. My personal favorite — get a cat. But please, don’t use rodenticides.

Barbara Rockwell lives in Placitas and works with Project Coyote to educate the public on coexisting with wildlife.