\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWild pigs in South Monterey County are showing signs of ingesting a poison meant for rodents, commonly found in bait stations located in agricultural fields.\u201cI physically observed these pigs intentionally coming through fences and gates to search for this rodenticide. They weren\u2019t going after anything else; they were specifically targeting ground squirrel bait stations, which I found very unusual,\u201d said Dan Burton, the owner of Urban Trapping Wildlife Control.The rodenticide, known as diphacinone, is an anticoagulant used to prevent blood clotting in rodents.If an animal has ingested this rodenticide, it turns their fatty tissue blue.\u201cThat\u2019s a clear signal to anyone who hunts and plans to eat an animal. If you cut it open and the tissue is blue, you don\u2019t eat blue meat,\u201d said Bryan Flores, Chief of Monterey County Parks.It\u2019s not just one pig being affected, but many.\u201cOn one property, we checked 12 or 13 pigs, and they were all blue on the inside,\u201d Burton said.The California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed the presence of the poison in one pig, which was sent to UC Davis for a toxicology panel.\u201cThat animal came back positive for diphacinone,\u201d said Zach Mills, District Biologist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.Evidence suggests that pigs may be encountering diphacinone across multiple locations in South Monterey County and along the Salinas River.\u201cWe mapped out areas where we\u2019ve observed affected animals, and the impacted region is quite large at this point,\u201d Mills said. \u201cI suspect these pigs are moving up and down the drainage system, encountering points of exposure to the rodenticide in multiple places.\u201dAlthough the use of diphacinone has been banned in California, agricultural operations are an exception due to their need for effective pest control to protect crops.\u201cIt\u2019s still permitted for agricultural and industrial use in some cases, but for the majority of the general public and government agencies, its use has been prohibited,\u201d Flores explained.While diphacinone is not typically fatal for feral pigs, it can be lethal for other local wildlife.The pigs\u2019 exposure raises concerns about the potential risk to other animal populations, either from eating the bait directly or consuming an animal that has ingested it.\u201cRodenticides are difficult to regulate within ecosystems; they move throughout the food web,\u201d Mills said. \u201cIt can be fatal for many species, particularly non-target species. I\u2019m especially concerned about birds.\u201dThe California Department of Fish and Wildlife is urging anyone using this poison to follow regulations carefully and use it responsibly.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tSOLEDAD, Calif. \u2014<\/strong> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Wild pigs in South Monterey County are showing signs of ingesting a poison meant for rodents, commonly found in bait stations located in agricultural fields.<\/p>\n \u201cI physically observed these pigs intentionally coming through fences and gates to search for this rodenticide. They weren\u2019t going after anything else; they were specifically targeting ground squirrel bait stations, which I found very unusual,\u201d said Dan Burton, the owner of Urban Trapping Wildlife Control.<\/p>\n The rodenticide, known as diphacinone, is an anticoagulant used to prevent blood clotting in rodents.<\/p>\n If an animal has ingested this rodenticide, it turns their fatty tissue blue.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a clear signal to anyone who hunts and plans to eat an animal. If you cut it open and the tissue is blue, you don\u2019t eat blue meat,\u201d said Bryan Flores, Chief of Monterey County Parks.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just one pig being affected, but many.<\/p>\n \u201cOn one property, we checked 12 or 13 pigs, and they were all blue on the inside,\u201d Burton said.<\/p>\n The California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed the presence of the poison in one pig, which was sent to UC Davis for a toxicology panel.<\/p>\n \u201cThat animal came back positive for diphacinone,\u201d said Zach Mills, District Biologist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.<\/p>\n Evidence suggests that pigs may be encountering diphacinone across multiple locations in South Monterey County and along the Salinas River.<\/p>\n \u201cWe mapped out areas where we\u2019ve observed affected animals, and the impacted region is quite large at this point,\u201d Mills said. \u201cI suspect these pigs are moving up and down the drainage system, encountering points of exposure to the rodenticide in multiple places.\u201d<\/p>\n Although the use of diphacinone has been banned in California, agricultural operations are an exception due to their need for effective pest control to protect crops.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still permitted for agricultural and industrial use in some cases, but for the majority of the general public and government agencies, its use has been prohibited,\u201d Flores explained.<\/p>\n While diphacinone is not typically fatal for feral pigs, it can be lethal for other local wildlife.<\/p>\n The pigs\u2019 exposure raises concerns about the potential risk to other animal populations, either from eating the bait directly or consuming an animal that has ingested it.<\/p>\n \u201cRodenticides are difficult to regulate within ecosystems; they move throughout the food web,\u201d Mills said. \u201cIt can be fatal for many species, particularly non-target species. I\u2019m especially concerned about birds.\u201d<\/p>\n The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is urging anyone using this poison to follow regulations carefully and use it responsibly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wild pigs in South Monterey County are showing signs of ingesting a poison meant for rodents, commonly found…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":57977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[4749,42323,42322,35814,42319,2038,9251,42318,449,38389,42320,159,31673,67,132,68,20175,42321,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-57976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animal","9":"tag-bait-station","10":"tag-bryan-flores","11":"tag-california-department","12":"tag-diphacinone","13":"tag-exposure","14":"tag-fish","15":"tag-pig","16":"tag-point","17":"tag-poison","18":"tag-rodenticide","19":"tag-science","20":"tag-south-monterey-county","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-use","25":"tag-wild-pig","26":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114836948355749539","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}