So many of us routinely use rat poisons knowingly or unknowingly to rid our homes and yards of rodents.............. In addition to placing glue traps"(old fashion bait and sticky trap), Exterminators will often place poison bait laden plastic traps in your attic, basement, laundry room, garage and various locations in your exterior yard..............Those "baits" contain poisons that cause the rodents to internally bleed to death................But they do not kill on initial exposure but rather over a period of time.................It is in that "period of time" that our Pumas, Bobcats, Coyotes, Raptors and other carnivores find themselves eating those rodents and "notching up" the intensity of the poison that is now in their system..............The Carnivores themselves will internally bleed to death or develop secondary infections like mange that ultimately bring death.................Malibu, California has the chance after the July 4 holiday to ban these poisons from being sold and utilized in their community................We root for this ban to get a YES vote!

Council to consider resolution against sale of rat poison

The resolution specifically targets the use of anticoagulant rodenticides, which contain chemicals that cause death soon after rodents or other animals ingest the poison.

Secondhand kill

Officials found this mountain lion dead in the Santa Monica Mountains in December of 2004. They later discovered the mountain lion died of anticoagulant poisoning, similar to the mountain lion found last year by the  Malibu Agricultural Society. 

By Alexis Driggs / The Malibu Times

The Malibu City Council will consider a resolution that aims to curb sales and the use of rodenticides in the city next week.

The resolution, if passed, will urge local business against selling anticoagulant rodenticides, urge residents and property owners against using rodenticide on their properties and commit the city to not using rodenticide for maintenance work. The resolution is sponsored by Councilmembers Lou LaMonte and John Sibert, and will be considered at the council meeting on July 8. 

"This really means a lot to us that we've got this resolution on the agenda," Kian Schulman, secretary of the Malibu Agricultural Society, told The Malibu Times last month. The society first presented the resolution to City Council in January 2013.

The resolution specifically targets the use of anticoagulant rodenticides, which contain chemicals that cause death soon after rodents or other animals ingest the poison. Other animals, including pets, are sometimes killed by either eating the poison or, more often, eating rodents that have already consumed the poison. According the agenda, this type of secondary poisoning is known to affect hawks, owls, foxes and coyotes, among other California wildlife.

The agricultural society became aware of the problem last October when a mountain lion was found dead with traces of rodenticide in its system. Schulman told The Malibu Times that they began looking for a solution.

"The statistics in our wildlife is horrendous," Schulman told The Malibu Times in June.

She said that, over the last five years, 74 percent of mountain lions and 95 percent of bobcats have been exposed to the rodenticide. 

If the resolution passes, it will limit the sales of harmful rodenticides in Malibu stores. Several California cities, such as San Francisco, Berkeley and Marin, similarly limit sales of these rodenticides.

The city cannot ban the sale of rodenticides outright; only the state of California has that authority.

The resolution would not impact the sale or use of other, less harmful methods of pest control, such as those that are less toxic to mammals and require prolonged exposure before killing rodents.

Schulman said Malibu has already banned the use of poison on city parks and facilities. The resolution will further commit the city against using anticoagulant rodenticides.

Several Malibu businesses, including Anawalt Lumber, CVS, Ralphs, Pavilions, and A&B Malibu Plumbing, have already stopped selling rodenticide.

An Anawalt Lumber supervisor, Herbert Castio, told The Malibu Times in June that the store hadn't sold rat poison in about a year.

"The community didn't approve, so we've taken it off," he said.  

The store still provides other methods of rodent control, such as live animal traps and electronic pest deterrents.