Rodenticides used in agricultural and urban pest control cause deaths of non-target wildlife including raptors, foxes, and owls through secondary poisoning, representing a preventable and widespread welfare harm.
Rodenticide poisoning in non-target wildlife causes prolonged suffering from internal hemorrhage — affected animals deteriorate over days or weeks as anticoagulation prevents blood from clotting after minor internal trauma. Poisoned raptors show progressive neurological signs and physical deterioration before death. The welfare harm is compounded by the indiscriminate nature of secondary poisoning — animals that never interacted with the rodenticide bait are dying because they ate poisoned prey. Wildlife rehabilitators treat dozens of rodenticide-poisoned raptors annually that survive to treatment but represent a fraction of total poisoning mortality. The welfare alternative — biological control through supporting natural predators, combined with first-generation rodenticides for cases where chemical control is necessary — provides effective pest management with dramatically lower non-target welfare harm.