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Rat poison is killing our beloved native owls and tawny frogmouths – and that's the tip of the iceberg (theconversation.com)

submitted 2 years ago by Treevan@aussie.zone to c/environment@aussie.zone

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Use of rat poison is leading to the wide-scale poisoning of Australia's nocturnal predatory birds, including the crowd favourite tawny frogmouth and Australia's largest owl, the majestic powerful owl.

Anticoagulant rat poisons are effective at killing rodents, but they also accumulate in the liver and muscle tissues of predators that eat the poisoned animals.

Our new research reveals alarming levels of rat poisons in our nocturnal predatory birds.

Given the high rate of exposure to rat poisons, it is likely predator populations will decline.

The common brushtail possum, with its broad diet and penchant for living in roof cavities, is no doubt directly feasting on rat poison.

So the high level of rat poison we found in nocturnal predators is likely the tip of a poisoned iceberg.

There is a very strong likelihood you will poison more than rodents - you could be poisoning a tawny frogmouth or owl.

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[–] Getawombatupya@aussie.zone 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What do you normally do with scale or aphids. I have a meyer lemon tree with a localised aphid infestation and didn't spray until dusk, bit I have an olive with scale and sooty mould that I sprayed twice in a few days, in my area it's winter so no buds yet. What do you do for commercial pest control while being mindful of pollinators?

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Can't really help you there as we do not treat trees at all. That's usually a job for an arborist. For the most part, we just don't put any chemicals near any pollinating plants. We also refuse to remove bee hives, in those cases we have a bee keeper who will come and relocate them to his farm.

There is an organic product we use for veggie gardens though called "Essentria" and it's basically rosemary oil with peppermint and thyme. It's effective to an extent but needs more regular applications. You might look that up. I'm not home right now but will check the label when I get home. It might have an application for trees.

Again I don't treat trees, we have an arborist we refer to for customers with tree problems.

Sorry I can't be more help, good luck.

[–] Getawombatupya@aussie.zone 1 points 2 years ago

Cheers anyway, I'll look it up