Pubdate: Thu, 26 Jul 2012
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559

POT GROWERS POISONING WILDLIFE?

Illegal Pot Farmers Could Be Endangering Forest Wildlife With Rat Poison

Commercial rat poison used by illegal marijuana growers could be 
putting California's wildlife at risk, particularly the fisher, a 
member of the weasel family. The fisher is currently a candidate for 
listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Researchers led by UC Davis veterinary scientists analyzed 58 fisher 
carcasses in Humboldt County near Redwood National Park and the 
southern Sierra Nevada in and near Yosemite National Park, finding 79 
percent had been exposed to rodenticides, according to a UC Davis 
press release.

The study's authors identified illegal pot farms in the study areas 
as the most likely source of the poison, as nontarget rodenticide 
poisoning usually occurs only in urban or agricultural settings-not 
the forested areas that fishers tend to inhabit.

The fishers may have been poisoned as a result of eating animals that 
had ingested the rodenticide, or may have consumed the bacon-, 
cheese- and peanut-butter-flavored poisons directly. Other species 
may be at risk as well, including the spotted owl and the Sierra Nevada red fox.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom