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Invasive Rodents

A Global Challenge

The Global Challenge presented by invasive rodent species is immense, and the far reaching environmental and social implications of this unfortunate reality are profound. They are regarded as being amongst the greatest threats to achieving sustainable biodiversity, and left unchecked, cause a host of imbalances in the environment and the economy, including irreversible environmental damage and habitat loss.

 

Traditional methods of managing invasive rodent species are at best ineffective, and at worst harmful to the environment and inhumane to animals. Given the nature of invasive rodents, being non-native, fast
growing and reproducing, generally with a lack of natural predators and a lack of natural defence mechanisms in the host environment, their proliferation can be challenging to influence and quantify. This is frequently a domain of estimates, assumptions and even guesswork.

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Over the years, poisons and rodenticides have emerged to be amongst the most common responses...
Rodenticides commonly fall into two general categories, anticoagulants and non-anticoagulants. Anticoagulant rodenticides work by interfering with the activation of Vitamin K, a critical component in the production of blood clotting factors in the liver.
Rodenticides Are
INHUMANE
Once the rodenticide has been ingested by the animal, the poison begins to thin the blood of the animal, commonly resulting in internal bleeding and/or hemorrhaging. This slow and agonizing process can last up to 10 days before the animal expires of becomes significantly impaired.
Rodenticides Are
UNSUSTAINABLE
Due to the non-discretionary nature of rodenticides, a process called secondary poisoning often occurs whereby a non-target species directly or indirectly ingests the rodenticide. Through a secondary-
poisoning process called bioaccumulation, rodenticide residues build up in rodent carcasses to levels many times the minimum lethal doses -exposing rodent-eating predators and scavengers to immense amounts of poison. This has resulted in species such as hawks, owls, foxes, eagles, mountain lions, and many other species to become endangered and or extinct.
Rodenticides Are
INEFFECTIVE
The most common approach to deploy rodenticides is through the use of bait stations. These bait stations are baited with rodenticide and deployed in the field where they are left unmonitored for months or years. These stations are unable to provide any quantifiable data with respect to rodent visits, efficacy, or overall rodent population reduction.
The ‘rodent response’ industry is only beginning to react to these issues...

The current industry response is rarely based upon quantifiable data and the latest in rodent science, as few solutions actually collect any real data whatsoever. What is the scale of the issue? What species is being targeted? How do we know if we’re making progress? What environmental conditions exist when the rodents are present? How humane is the response, how much suffering is involved? Is there a predictable pattern to it all? 

 

All too often the industry response is to put out traps, to put out poisons, and hope for the best.This unsustainable cycle of economic dependence often benefits the industry while exacerbating the issue(s).

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