The National Park Service (NPS) is set to begin an ill-advised rat
poisoning plan on Anacapa Island, a part of California’s Channel Island
National Park. Although the plan is being touted as a means to protect
the island’s seabird population, critics of the plan fear that the ends do
not justify the means.
The poison of choice, brodifacoum, is both
extremely toxic and non-selective, meaning that other animals aside from
rats, including those who may feed on the bodies of poisoned rats, will
also be poisoned. Morever, the NPS plans to disperse the poison via
aerial drops, literally sprinkling the entire surface of the island with
deadly poison.
While the NPS does plan to trap and later release or
relocate many of the island’s deer mice and raptors to reduce non-target
mortality, the stress that such maneuvers will place on local wildlife
makes the plan all the more questionable.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please write to the NPS to object to the poisoning
program. Ask it to postpone poisoning until it has reevaluated the need
for the program and the negative impacts it could have on wildlife. Send
your letters to:
Tom Setnicka, Superintendent
Channel Islands National Park
1901 Spinnaker Dr.
Ventura, CA 93001
fax: 805-658-5799
ph: 805-658-5700
email: CHIS_Superintendent@nps.gov
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