Park officials at Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park are reminding visitors and employees: Don’t use rat poison. That’s not just limited to bait put out for rats. They stress that any poison intended for rodents is verboten at the park. The warning comes after the recent death of a bobcat at the park.
Don’t use rat poison to save a rat? Save a critter!
The bobcat was found dead at Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim. A necropsy showed that the cat had died from high levels of rodenticide. While the cat may not have eaten the poison directly, it may have consumed rodents which had fed on the stuff. The bobcat isn’t the only critter to have suffered a similar fate. Coyotes, condors, foxes, chipmunks, and mule deer have been victims of rodent poisoning in recent years.
Getting rid of rodent pests with poison can create unintended consequences, park officials said. It can contaminate the environment and endanger animals up the food chain that feed on poisoned mice and rats. Critters aren’t the only ones endangered by rodent baits—it can cause serious harm to humans and pets. With all this in mind, rodent poison is banned at the Grand Canyon. Exceptions are specific situations when officials deem it necessary to mitigate disease transmission. Please, don’t use rat poison!
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Good warning to all RV’ers and campers alike. Always be aware of your surroundings before using any type of poisons or baits.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! So, only traps of one kind or another? Gotcha. Thank you! 🙂
My wonderful cat died in agony after eating rodents that had been poisoned. I suspect the neighbor’s maid of putting out the poison.
I’ve heard, but not tried, the following. Put a small dish or container out and fill it with coke-a-cola soda pop. The rats will drink it and get a internal gas buildup. I have been told that rats can’t belch so the gas builds up inside of them and will eventually burst their stomach and maybe the intestines. When that happens it kills them. You might try it as an alternative to the poison. I have heard this story for years, but as I said,I don’t know if it works or not.