Barn owls and other raptors are poisoned secondhand by rodenticides used to control rodent pests, and wildlife-safe rodent management approaches protect raptor welfare while maintaining pest control.
Rodenticide secondary poisoning represents a significant and largely invisible welfare harm to barn owls and other raptors. Anticoagulant poisoning causes prolonged suffering — internal hemorrhaging over days before death. Affected birds often appear disoriented and are found dying without obvious external injury. The irony is that the target pest control goal is better achieved by the owls themselves than by rodenticides that simultaneously kill the natural control. Wildlife-safe pest management — owl boxes, snap traps, exclusion — protects raptor welfare while maintaining effective rodent control.