This is SO important! I live in a condo “complex” which is only 5 units and we all share a yard. One unit has rats burrowing under the house and they hired a pest control company that put out poison boxes. Within 3 weeks we had a “drunk” mother raccoon (with babies) that we had to call animal control for and a dead skunk along with 3 dead rats that WE had to dispose of because the neighbor who put out the poison just left them there for our dog to pick up. We got into an argument with the neighbors and they asked the pest control guy to talk to us. He told us that all of the poisons used are “perfectly safe” and there is “no risk of secondary poisoning.” He went as far as to point out that all of the product names were on the poison box so that we could look them up. Well, all 4 poisons are SGARs and it took about 5 minutes to discover that the manufacturers label for all 4 have explicit warnings of secondary poisoning.

Not only will the proposed bill help to limit the use of SGARs, but it will also force homeowners to sign an acknowledgment that secondary poisoning is a serious risk so that pest control companies like the one my neighbor used can’t tell people they’re perfectly safe.

We live on a pond and a pair of bald eagles come here every winter as well as ospreys and tons of hawks that all hunt in our backyard. The fact that these companies are able to lie to consumers about the risks is criminal!