Making Marco Poison Free

One of my main goals working for Audubon Western Everglades as their wildlife biologist is to continue the movement of Marco Island becoming a rat poison free city. I have some positive updates from the field! Our pilot program with Mackle Park is almost complete, and the report will be provided by Wisdom Good Works soon. From the perspective of myself and AWE volunteers who have been weekly attending to the feed stations using a fertility feed called Good Bites, the rats within the property have definitely taken to the feed, and we have seen a reduction in physical rats at the stations as well as a reduction in consumption. The point of this feed is not to rid rats entirely, but to get their numbers to a manageable and healthy population while ensuring predators can do their part without getting poisoned! Typically, once numbers are reduced, you no longer see rats during the day as they are not competing for food sources. Mackle Park is an open system, so we have been checking stations twice a week recently to see if there are any changes in the population. In the past month, migratory hawks have been arriving to the area and are learning where the stations are as we see them stalking out their prey. With this current product, we know they are safe to eat! There have been some challenges discovered in figuring out proper exclusions to the building and trash management, but I look forward to meetings with the city, pest control companies, and Wisdom Good Works. Please make note that feeding wildlife around the park is not allowed and will only cause issues for rats as they are drawn to piles of bird seed left by folks feeding ducks and crows. Please educate others and report any feeding you see to park staff and/or code enforcement. During this time period of the pilot program, I have also been testing out the product at several other locations with much success! These include Crescent Beach Condo, Court of Palms Condo, several residential properties, and our wildlife sanctuary in the middle of an urban area on Dogwood Drive. But do not just listen to me, hear from some testimonials below! We are in the process of making plans with Wisdom Good Works to get Good Bites more accessible to all condos, hotels, businesses, and residential properties on Marco Island. Additionally, we will be promoting for the city to extend this product to all city properties and remove the use of poison. Spread the word to keep wildlife and pets safe! 

Pam Carey of Crescent Beach Condos: 

"Crescent Beach Condominiums has had a significant issue with rats in the past. We have experienced problems with a large population of rats in the trash room and the 
garage/maintenance room. These rats have caused damage to our property, including eating through the cables and wires in our brand-new golf cart and eating through wires in the trash room to the controller system. Out of desperation to solve the problem we tried everything, including poison. We removed the use of poison and started using the rat snap traps with peanut butter. While the rat traps were effective, we still had too many rats. 
We started to use the Good Bites food alongside the rat snap traps with the peanut butter and after several months we began to notice a difference. After learning how poison could negatively impact and cause harm to other animals, we were eager to find another solution that would help solve the rat issue we had. To date we have found the combination of the rat traps and the Good Bites food to be the most effective in decreasing our rat population. Additionally, we hired a company to do permanent exclusion to any rat entry areas. We have not experienced any chewed wires in months, and the current remedies are not causing any harm to the many wildlife species that call Marco Island home. We would recommend Good Bites and rat traps with peanut butter to other properties on the island that are having problems with rats as our property at Crescent Beach Condos has had a positive experience with these two solutions." 

Nancy Richie: 

"Living in southwest Florida means abundant rats, especially if you love palm trees or fruit trees in your landscape. Poison is not the way to control or rid the rats, especially if you want to enjoy birds and wildlife and ensure a healthy environment for you and your community. I have seen firsthand the horrible sickness and death that rodenticide passed onto birds of prey can do, from dead and very sick Burrowing Owls, a dead Barn Owl, and a few very sick Red Shouldered Hawks. Watching a domestic cat struggle to live due to rodenticide will change your mind on rodent control options. Since Brittany/AWE has put the rat infertility bait box in my yard, I have had a decrease in rat sightings and their scat. She checks the box regularly and they are eating up the pellets, so it is doing the job and I know the other birds, wildlife, my pets and family are safe from poison and its awful effects." 

Ann Wasserman: 

"This is what I see when my pest control service or neighbors use rat poison bait boxes: dead or convulsing rats in my yard or sidewalk, crows or osprey feeding on the carcass in my yard, dead burrowing owls by burrows. 

This is what I see when I or my neighbors use rat contraceptive bait boxes: Nothing." 

Christine Dowell:  

"We didn't really know that we had a rat problem.  We used poison bait traps previously, and now we transferred to the new non-poison system and we don’t see a difference. We are appreciative there is a non-poison approach to dealing with the rat population in the island. It is safe for the ecosystem and prevents impacts to the food chain." 

Sybl Fleming, Court of Palms Condos:  

"As a member of the Owl Watch Program, I discussed this proposal with the Court of Palms Condo Association board of directors. We agreed to participate. All owners were emailed with information concerning our involvement in this program. Brittany oversaw the placement of a receptacle which safely housed the pellets. On a set schedule, she refilled the receptacle and recorded the contents. Evidently, our “box” was very popular with the neighborhood rat population: she refilled it often. I understand that this endeavor is not a quick answer to our island being overrun by rats, which, in turn, carry the currently used rat poison to Marco’s wildlife that may result in their death and/or neurological damage. I would like to encourage the City Council of Marco Island to consider this new program as an alternative to the present use of rat poison."