Despair over owl deaths as regulator in fourth year of rat bait review

Australia Broadcast Center

3 days ago

Councils across Western Australia have joined animal welfare groups in a campaign to reduce the use of common rat and mouse baits, citing the devastating impact on native birds and animals.
Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs), such as ratsak, are readily available on supermarket shelves and are a common option for people targeting rat and mouse infestations.
But the poisons have a devastating effect on native birds, including owls, that receive lethal or crippling doses when they consume already-poisoned rodents.
The national chemical regulator, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), has been reviewing the availability of the poisons since 2021, with an outcome expected in weeks.
But wildlife advocates say the daily impact on wildlife shows the review has not proceeded quickly enough.
The poisons have killed at least 60 owls in and around WA's South West in recent months.
Capes Raptor Centre rehabilitation coordinator Anne-Marie Orkasalo said the baits caused long and painful deaths.
"It essentially stops the blood clotting so the animal keeps on bleeding, and of course, that's a very long process," she said.
Owl researcher Boyd Wykes established Owl Friendly Margaret River in 2018 to raise awareness of the damage that toxic rat baits caused.
Dr Wykes said he believed properly regulating baits would expose the full scope of their impact.
"These things are being sold at supermarkets and hardware stores, and if [everyone has] got a rat or a mouse problem, the first thing they're doing is going and buying these rat poisons," he said.
"We think it's across a broad range of wildlife, and we think once we control these things, we'll see a resurgence in a whole lot of wildlife.
"I think we're going to find rodenticides were just a hidden problem having a huge impact."
The slow-moving nature of the review has led several local governments to reduce their use of baits ahead of the APVMA's ruling.
The Shire of Augusta-Margaret River was one of the first, ending its use of SGARs in 2020.
Chief executive Andrea Selvey said concerned citizens fuelled the move and the shire was now working to educate residents on alternative options.
"Some initiatives are very simple: how we manage our waste, our rubbish, compost making sure it's secure and not accessible by rodents," she said.
"Some community members have installed owl roosting boxes to encourage owls on their property, and they become part of the rodent control measures."
The APVMA started its chemical review of SGARs in 2021 and assessment phase in February 2022.
The assessment had a statutory time frame of 26 months for completion, which lapsed in mid-2024, and its drafted decision is several months overdue.
In a statement to the ABC, an APVMA spokesperson said it had revised its predicted publication date due to "complex scientific assessments" and consideration of legislative options.
"The APVMA is currently finalising the documents for our proposed regulatory decision for the anticoagulant rodenticides review," the spokesperson said.
"We expect to publish this in the coming weeks, which will start a three-month public consultation period."