23/02/2025
🦉Bird Health Awareness Week: Poison ☣️
Do you like owls? Kookaburras? Magpies? Butcher birds? Kestrels? Falcons? Kites? Eagles? Tawny frogmouths? Parrots? Ducks? Chickens? 🦉🐓🦜
They all have something in common: Primary or secondary rodenticide toxicity.
How about songbirds & flycatchers? 🐦
Insecticide poisoning from inhalation, skin absorption, & eating insects.
Studies in recent years looked at cause of death for several wildlife bird species found dead or dying. Up to 80% of the birds were killed directly or indirectly by rodenticide toxicity. Those that weren’t killed outright had enough toxicity to cause serious impairment, greatly increasing the risk of collisions 🚙🌳🏢
Primary toxicity is direct consumption of poison. E.g. galahs eating poison coated grain.
Secondary toxicity is indirect consumption. E.g. owls eating poisoned mice.
Indicators of toxicity: blood in mouth & body cavities (from organ hemorrhage), blood not clotting, bruising without trauma, weight loss, weakness, lethargy, weird p**p colour, convulsions, slow breathing.
Some birds with low rodenticide toxicity levels may survive with supportive care, but there’s no antidote. Insecticide poisoning is usually fatal ☠️
🛑 Knock it off!
STOP USING POISON (rodenticides, insecticides, herbicides, snail baits).
It doesn’t just kill non-native rodents. It kills birds, snakes, lizards, possums, native rodents, quolls, dogs, cats, wombats, livestock, macropods. Anything that eats grains or pellets & anything that eats anything that eats grains or pellets.
There’s lots of info online for other options. Natural deterrents. Store food in sealed containers. Clean up rubbish & vegetation. Rodent-proof bird/chook pens. Remove uneaten pet food. Professional pest controllers. Humane traps with safe baits (pumpkin seed, peanut butter). Electronic traps. Plant native trees, not palms (non-native rat hangout). No cruel glue traps!
Dispose of dead animals appropriately where other animals can’t eat them.
📷 TRC own