Wildlife poisoning through pesticides, rodenticides, and pollutants causes widespread suffering and death in wild animals, with secondary poisoning through food chains particularly significant.
Wildlife poisoning causes profound suffering through extended and painful deaths. Secondary anticoagulant poisoning causes internal hemorrhage, weakness, and eventual death over several days in raptors that eat poisoned rodents. Lead poisoning from ingested ammunition fragments causes neurological deterioration, weakness, and starvation. Illegal poisoning targeted at predators causes acute suffering and is a serious wildlife crime. The cumulative effect of legal and illegal poisoning creates a significant background level of wildlife welfare harm that largely occurs unseen. Monitoring programs using post-mortem toxicology provide the evidence base for regulatory responses but cannot reduce suffering that has already occurred.