Coopers hawk nest
Coopers Hawk feeding chicks - photo by Tony Brake

On November 14, 2011 Golden Gate Bird Alliance joined San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen, San Francisco Department of the Environment Director Melanie Nutter, parents, pet advocates, and other environmental groups in calling on businesses and residents to voluntarily cease use of twenty rodenticide products deemed by the US EPA to pose “unreasonable” risks to human health and the environment. 

Each year in the United States12,000 to 15,000 children under the age of 6 are exposed to harmful rat control products. Pets and wildlife that eat these products become sick or die. In 2004, the U.S. EPA found more than 300 documented wildlife reports of rodenticides poisoning of birds and other non-target mammals (including endangered species). Owls and hawks feed poisoned rodents to their chicks with fatal results. Most incidents of secondary poisoning of wildlife go unnoticed. 

Read the full press release here

Learn more about the issue and what you can do here

Read CBS local coverage of this issue here

Read SF Chronicle coverage here

Read SF Appeal news coverage here