Australia’s leading bird protection organisation, BirdLife Australia, is calling for a ban on the public sale of all Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs). Such a ban would include supermarkets, online sales and well-known national outlets such as Bunnings.
Three years ago, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) began a federal review into the deadly rat poisons which are implicated in the death of hundreds of animals and birds, especially raptors such as owls, eagles and tawny frogmouths which feed on carrion. They can also cause accidental poisoning of household pets.
The APVMA recently announced some proposed regulatory measures which BirdLife regards as totally inadequate, saying they will not result in any reduction in wildlife poisoning.
The authority is calling for public responses to the proposed measures. If you want more information or to make a submission go to the BirdLife website, https://birdlife.org.au.
Sally White