A wildlife trapper in Monterey County made an unexpected discovery after capturing a series of wild pigs in March of this year. While processing the animals, the trapper found several with blue-tinged muscles and fat tissues. The bizarre discoloration is a result of exposure to diphacinone, an anticoagulant rodenticide that is often dyed to identify it as a poison, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
In an email to SFGATE, Fish and Wildlife pesticide investigations coordinator Ryan Bourbour said that the trapper observed the wild pigs eating directly from rodenticide bait stations. The scope of the contamination appears extensive across the southern part of Monterey County and along the Salinas River.
After confirming the presence of diphacinone in the liver and stomach contents of wild pigs with blue tissues, Fish and Wildlifeās Wildlife Health Laboratory is advising hunters to not consume meat from any animals showing discoloration. Visible signs arenāt always reliable, however. āAs demonstrated by findings of exposure in nongame animals, the discoloration is not always present and is not a reliable indicator of AR [anticoagulant rodenticide] residues in meat,ā the 2018 study said.
Yikes!
All the Best, Jeff
This is ridiculous, are there no laws along the line of ābait must be protected from non-target animalsā?
Is using rat poison on pigs a known thing for pest pig populations?
Itās stories like this that support my general dislike of poison as a solution for pest control- Iām not against pest control in general (I own some pretty effective rat traps), but once something is poisoned and crawls off to die a miserable death, how do you reliably prevent scavengers also being poisonedā¦?
Also up the food chain to Pumas, coyotes, foxes and any other opportune scavengers.
There are still a very few coyote traps left over from the old days that blew a poison power into the air.
Know a kid who tripped one. Luckily it was so old the poison had degraded and he was up wind in a stiff breeze. His dad threw a fit when he got told.
All the Best, Jeff
Yes, the M44 Coyote-getter. I actually borrowed one of those for a presentation in Wildlife Management class. While they were obviously very dangerous, they were not such a threat to the food chain. They shot a charge of cyanide directly into the coyoteās mouth killing almost instantly. From what I was told, cyanide dissipates rapidly and doesnāt carry over as an environmental toxin.
