Protecting Burrowing Owls

On May 21, 2025 the Marco Island Beach and Coastal Resources Advisory Committee held a Rodenticide Workshop to develop a plan to protect Marco Island’s wildlife from the harmful effects of rodenticide with the following objectives:

1. Raise awareness of the issue and alternatives available.
2. Partner with local pest control providers for their existing and new residential customers.
3. Partner with Good Bites to expand into the residential and commercial customer base on Marco Island.

Brittany Piersma, Audubon of the Western Everglades, updated the Committee on the status of Marco Island Burrowing Owl mortality and rodenticide poisoning testing.

Lauren Barkley, Conservancy of Southwest Florida, updated the Committee on the avian wildlife treated at von Arx Wildlife Hospital, and specifically for Marco Island, including rodenticide poisoning.

Alaina Gonzalez-White and Dr. Loretta Mayer, Wisdom Good Works, updated the Committee on the status of the Good Bites pilot project at Mackle Park (final report expected in Oct 2025).

 Committee Member Linda Ryan then led the discussion to brainstorm plans to address each of the workshop objectives above. There was contribution from the public, our presenters, City staff and the Committee. The Committee will now formulate these ideas into a plan in its future meetings.

You may recall an article published in the April 4-10, 2024, edition of the Coastal Breeze that summarized the issue:

“Those black boxes around your house to control rats contain a bait called Rodenticide, a fancy name for RAT POISON. It is an anti-coagulant that when ingested by a rat causes them to bleed internally and eventually die. The process is not immediate; depending upon the amount eaten by the rat, it could take several days to die. During this time, the sick rat is easy prey for local wildlife, even pets. Unfortunately, Rodenticides’ effects are not isolated to just rats; it has the same effect on all other animals that ingest it, directly and secondarily (If a poisoned rat is eaten, the prey becomes the victim of secondary poisoning). Over time, the concentration of Rodenticide builds up in the body of the prey and given sufficient concentration, the prey will become sick and die. Over the last few years, Burrowing Owls and other avian species have been dying mysteriously on Marco Island. Through the efforts of Audubon of Western Everglades (AWE), a process to quickly preserve the dead owls and birds was implemented so they could be tested by the FWC and UGA SCWDS. The results were conclusive that the cause of death of many of the animals tested was internal bleeding due to secondary Rodenticide poisoning.”

To date, 59 deceased Burrowing Owls have been evaluated, and 55 have tested positive for Rodenticide rat poison in their system at varying levels. In addition, a deceased Barn Owl and a Cooper’s Hawk were evaluated and both tested positive for Rodenticide rat poison in their system. A few years ago, an injured Bald Eagle was received by the von Arx Wildlife Hospital at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida with non-life-threatening injuries. Unfortunately, this majestic creature died of internal bleeding and was found to have secondary rodenticide poisoning which caused its unnecessary death. Recently a friend shared a story about his dog that died of rodenticide poisoning after it ate bait that was applied to a neighbor’s property incorrectly (not in a bait trap). How many more stories like these do we need to hear before each and every one of us removes this product from our property?

Rats lead a simple life…they search for food and shelter, if you do not provide either, they will go elsewhere. They also multiply quickly, if they are sterile or dead they cannot reproduce.  

Unfortunately, Florida State law does not allow bans on the use of Rodenticide and other pest control products, so we will need to eliminate Rodenticide through community outreach/education and consumer-driven demand.  

What can you do?

1. Eliminate the use of Rodenticide at your home. Remove all bait traps - they actually attract rats to your home. If you do have issues with rats, ask your pest control company to use non-rodenticide methods to control rats (rat contraceptive bait, snap traps, compressed air traps, natural rat deterrents). Do not believe claims of “safe” rat poison baits; this is false. If your pest control company does not offer an alternative, find one that does.
2. Make your property less attractive and impervious to rats:  
   1. Keep trash cans inside until pickup. Do not dump food in construction dumpsters.
   2. Keep trees trimmed away from the house so they do not provide a bridge for rats to use to gain access; make sure there are no openings in walls, roof, soffits, etc. for rats to use to access your home - they love to get in the attic.

Learn more:    

1. https://cwhl.vet.cornell.edu/disease/rodenticide-toxicity

2. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/raptors-and-rat-poison/?fbclid=IwAR2P1PFZUiHMdKJfhm44YUEanFE-mMWqHqZgVUHnyM0tRhtkaehQzcvOy64

3. https://raptorsarethesolution.org/

4. https://saferodentcontrol.org/site/wildlife/

5. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/pesticides_reduction/rodenticides/index.html