
19 Mar FoLAR officially supports a ban on rodenticides harmful to our local wildlife (AB 1788)
Rodenticide usage in the Santa Monica Mountains is harming our beloved species and wrecking havoc throughout the food chain. Now a bill moving through our state legislature is aimed at reducing their usage and reducing the harm. The bill (AB 1788) would ban second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) in California—the most toxic, “one-feeding kills” poisons—as well as first generation anticoagulants (FGARs) on state-owned properties. These products are having widespread impacts on our state’s ecosystems, in particular, California’s treasured wildlife, as well as creating unnecessary risk to the health and safety of our state’s children and household pets. Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) is wrote a letter of support of AB 1788, available here: Read FoLAR’s AB 1788 Support Letter
According to our friends at Friends of Griffith Park, “National Park Service researchers have documented a direct link between exposure to anti-coagulant compounds and the deaths of wildlife in and around the Santa Monica Mountains. During two decades of research, biologists found that 92% of bobcats, 83% of coyotes, and 92% of mountain lions were exposed to one or more compounds.”
More information on the Friends of Griffith Park’s blog post raising awareness about rodenticides and calling on environmental stewards to take the pledge to reduce their usage throughout our open spaces. Stay tuned for more updates on the progress of this bill.
AB 1788 has been set for its first hearing, in the Assembly Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials (“ESTM”) committee, on Tuesday, March 26 at 1:30 pm (State Capitol, Room 444). Call your California state representative and register your support! Look up your representative with this useful tool.