California tightens rules on rat poisons that kill wildlife

SACRAMENTO >> Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed a bill widely restricting the use of certain highly potent rat poisons that are blamed for killing mountain lions, birds and endangered wildlife.

Assembly Bill 1788 bars the general use of so-called second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, or SGARs, until the director of the state Department of Pesticide Regulation certifies that the chemicals have been reevaluated and any additional restrictions needed to limit the impact on wildlife are adopted. No deadline was given. T he h i g h ly p ot ent SGARs work by preventing clotting and causing rodents such as mice, rats, squirrels and gophers to die from internal bleeding.

The deaths can be slow, and the chemicals linger in the bodies of the rodents and can be passed on up the food chain to predators and scavengers from the dead or dying rodents.

They include mountain lions, bobcats, badgers, golden eagles, greathorned owls, black bears,

Pacific fishers, coyotes and endangered San Joaquin kit foxes, according to state regulators.

Last month, wildlife officials announced that an adult bobcat and a young mountain lion that were part of a study of big cats in the wilderness west of Los Angeles both died after ingesting rat poisons.

C onsumer sa le s of SGARs were banned in 2014 and their use restricted to licensed exterminators. However, the chemicals are still widely used commercially and in agriculture.