From Blue Ridge Wildlife Center

This Great-horned owl came into our center with blood in the mouth and with bruising on parts of his body. This patient's mucous membranes were very pale and the owl was in very poor body condition.

When we took a blood sample, the blood did not clot for over ten minutes! The pale membranes, ongoing bleeding, and excessive bruising are all signs we see commonly in cases of anticoagulant rodenticide (AR) toxicity.

As the name implies, ARs kill by preventing the normal clotting of blood. This means small injuries that might normally lead to a bruise (or less) can now cause an animal to bleed to death. It is not a humane way to die for the intended targets nor for the predators that eat those victims.

AR toxicity is not uncommon in wildlife. In fact, studies on multiple species of raptors have shown that nearly 100% have subclinical levels of these poisons in their blood and tissues. In 2021, a study on over 200 bald eagles revealed that 83% of those samples had detectable AR levels.

Although rodenticide toxicity is considered the primary cause of death in only 4% of these cases, the impacts of subclinical levels are not well studied. As we commonly see in individuals with subclinical lead levels, who almost all come to us as trauma cases, we highly suspect that these subclinical levels of AR toxicity predispose many of these animals to potentially fatal injury.

Studies that have specifically looked for rodenticides in non-target wildlife have found it with alarming frequency - over 70% of animals tested in multiple studies. A study from Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University showed 100% of the Red- tailed Hawks tested between 2017-2019 had detectable levels of anticoagulant rodenticides with 91% of these hawks having two or more types of rodenticide detected.

Sadly, these poisons are sold over-the-counter and advertised as a way to rid your home of unwanted rodents. What sellers don't tell you is that this is a horrible way to die for the intended victims and it will harm or kill unintended targets, including your pets and wildlife.

To make matters worse, they don't tell you that killing the individual pests will not solve your problem. Until you figure out how those pests are entering and make corrections/repairs to close off those entry ways and secure food sources, more rodents will continue to use that space. The wildlife in your area will continue to find the rodents as they are dying (which makes them very easy and desirable prey). It is an endless cycle of death that you can spend money on forever and it still does not keep rodents out of your home.

Thankfully, this Great-horned owl has had a good response to the first few days of therapy. We are administering higher doses of vitamin K to help support clotting, and providing fluid and nutritional support. Due to the emaciation, this bird was started on an easily-digestible liquid diet and has since been upgraded to eating whole prey.

It is our responsibility as good stewards of environmental health to make sure we are reducing our negative impacts on wildlife. Although we know that pest species can cause significant damage, using humane alternatives in our homes is imperative if we want their predators and a healthy natural food web to continue to help manage wild rodent populations.

Here's a shot of this patient's mouth, and you can easily see it looks unhealthy.

This young GHO both demonstrates a healthy owl mouth, which should look much like ours, at least as far as color goes, and also my face when I read stories like this.

The remaining pics are more of the owl's evaluation.

That's why you should stick to snap traps a la Tom & Jerry

I agree. Poison is cruel enough even if it just goes to the intended target. Glue traps are almost as horrible with suffering and by-catch. Live catch traps need to be checked way more often than people realize due to the high rate of rodent metabolism, otherwise those cause cruel death as well. Snap traps aren't foolproof, but are the best humane option one has if they are determined to kill a mouse. Ultimately, finding the source of ingress and sealing it is best for all parties involved.

There's been a user on another community that kept talking about buying bait stations and I've had to bite my tongue a number of times now. Other communities aren't my place to go moralizing to people, but if you're reading articles here, that's fair game.

Or, if you're especially motivated, Have-a-Heart traps. Some pet stores will take rodentia for selling as food for e.g. snake owners. Or, post on Nextdoor and find people who own snakes and are looking for meals. Þe rodent still dies in þe end, but at least it's a circle of life sort of process.

Raptorial Birds being handled always look so insulted about it. Like they're thinking "how could this happen?"

And rightly so! They don't know what we're doing to them and we're touching them in ways not even their mate ever would. To their owly brains we're up to total no good. That's why an angry owl is usually a good sign. They got enough health and energy to be that upset. As much as I'd love to boop the little guys all day, in reality I'd rather have them all want to tear me to shreds! 😄

Awww, so cute! Get better, little owl!!!

I wish it the best! Lead and rodenticide poisoning is really tough to watch, and they are normally very affected by the time they can be captured.