Wildlife expert pushes for ban on outdoor rodent poisoning in Connecticut

Wildlife experts say they are seeing more and more local birds of prey dying from the poisoned rodents they are eating – and they say it may start with the poison being used at your home.

Mark Sudol

Jan 9, 2024, 10:21 PM

Updated 327 days ago

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Wildlife experts say they are seeing more and more local birds of prey dying from the poisoned rodents they are eating – and they say it may start with the poison being used at your home.
Those pesky mice are back in your attic and basement. The past few winters, it's been too warm outside to kill them, and right now they are even reproducing.
"Their temperature threshold is around zero, and we're never zero for an extended period of time so they keep doing their thing," says Brian Buckmir, owner of Apollo X.
Buckmir has been in the pest control business for over 35 years. He says he uses poison-baited traps inside the home to eradicate mice.
"Within six to 14 days if we could treat the bowels of the house, the problem is solved 92% of the time," says Buckmir.
Peter Reid with Wildlife In Crisis in Weston says he is seeing dozens of birds dying from ingesting rat poison in their prey compared to 20 years ago.
"These are birds that are in neurological distress, loss of motor skills, they can't fly. Falling over," said Reid.
But he says the problem is people who use outdoor rodent poisoning. Reid says he found a bald eagle last summer in Westport that died two days later from poison in its system.
"We would like to see a ban on outdoor rodent poisoning," says Reid.
Reid says people using outdoor traps should use a trap without poison or snap traps inside your home. Reid says hawks, owls and eagles are all protected species, and he'd like to keep it that way.
Legislation will be introduced this session to ban or limit rodenticides in Connecticut. They are already banned in California.