Barn Owl Poison Exposure Monitoring and Citizen Science

Citizen science post-mortem monitoring of barn owls has revealed the scale of rodenticide poisoning, providing evidence for policy change and revealing new threats to the species.

Key Facts

The Barn Owl Trust and WIIS (Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme) coordinate post-mortem analysis of found barn owl carcasses
Studies have found second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides in 70-80% of tested UK barn owl carcasses
Monitoring also reveals other welfare threats including trauma (road and building strikes) and starvation
Citizen science carcass submission by the public provides sample sizes impossible to achieve through professional collection alone
Findings directly inform regulatory decisions about rodenticide use and availability

Welfare Considerations

Post-mortem monitoring of barn owls reveals the welfare threats that wild populations face at population scale. High rates of rodenticide exposure across large geographic areas indicate a diffuse and chronic poisoning risk that affects individual birds over extended periods before death. The data generated by citizen science carcass submission programmes has been instrumental in building the evidence base for regulatory restrictions on second-generation rodenticides and for stewardship guidelines that reduce non-target wildlife exposure. This monitoring translates directly into welfare improvements for wild barn owl populations by identifying and quantifying the threats that drive preventable suffering.

What You Can Do

Submit any barn owl carcass found to the Barn Owl Trust for post-mortem analysis and recording
Learn to recognise signs of rodenticide poisoning in birds including bruising and internal haemorrhage
Report unusual barn owl mortality events to Natural England Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme
Advocate for expanded rodenticide monitoring as a condition of continued access to products for professional users