Hello!
I have joined this forum to gain some advice on a recent rodent rescue I have been involved with.I'll try and do a short summary!
In the summer two domesticated rats were released in a park. A male and a female. Local dog walkers had seen these rats. A lady who feeds the swans daily in the park caught the female rat, and this girl gave birth to 15 babies 5 days later. The male was found having drowned in the pond :(. A couple of months later there were more reports of sightings of rats. I am into rat rescue and myself and a friend spent many hours in the park, catching these rats. We caught 12 in the park. 4 of these girls gave birth... this was around mid October when we thought we caught them all. Around the beginning of December there were more sightings. We again, went down to the park and caught 3 more - these were around 6 weeks old. All together we have rescued 73 rats :) We deffinately saw 2 more rats so more were down in the hole, Does that make sense?!
We contacted every organisation possible in the South West including the RSPCA but they were no help.
One day when my friend went down to the park she found the hole filled with poison and a rock over the hole. She removed all the poison she could. And this was reported to the police and council. It was loose poison and I understand this is illegal. The council confirmed they use baited boxes of poison in the park, and confirmed that this was not them. We put loads of cat food down the hole, laced with Vit K so if any animals picked up the poison then this would hopefully counteract this. We reported this incident to the police.
The rats lived by a leat leading into the pond where the swan/ducks live... so obviously we were concerned that the poison may be flushed out by rain into the pond and hurting local wildlife. Obviously birds, dogs etc could have picked the poison out from the hole :(
We think that the 2 rats we saw had taken this poison as there has been no sightings since :(
We got a report from the lady who feeds the swans yesterday. She saw a box which had been buried in the ground. She dug up the box thinking it was more poison and inside was a Robin, who had passed away, wrapped in kitchen roll and a ribon. On top of where the Robin was buried was 2 pieces of children's cutlery placed in a cross. This burial was very close to where the rats lived.
The swan lady told us the Robin was not harmed physically, so we can only assume it has taken the poison and died :(Would it be worth getting a post mortem done on the Robin?
I guess I just wanted some advice on what to do and what people think.
Thank you
Hi Amzy,
Perhaps the RSPCA is the first port of call. You can find their national inquiries number in the phone book.
Good luck! Andy
Seriously thinking about trying harder!
HI Amzy, Have just done a quick cross-check with Les Stockers book on Practical Wildlife Care for you. SOpi on with Vitamin K. Symptoms in wildlife which have accidentally take warfarin/hydroxycoumarins are as follows,
" Clinical signs are hard to determine but will usually include pale mucous membranes or signs of bleeding, in particular from the nose (epistaxis)."
Treatment:
" An animal uder treratment for suspected anit-coagualtn poisoning should be kept on its own, kept quiet and prevented from injuring itself. Any knock can precipitate internal haemorrhage."
(Stocker, L. ,2005, p.107)
SO, i suppose keep a watchful eye out for any other wildlife looking the worse for wear re the above and , hey folks you take care re the leptospirosis!
Ruby-Sue
This does sound like an unusual incident but if rat poison is used incorrectly it will have a high risk for wildlife as well as the domestic rats.
If illegal poisoning is suspected, large amounts of poison left in the open in an area where it can affect wildlife indescriminately would certainly be of concern, i would recommend getting in touch with the national poison hotline on 0800 321 600 to see what they think.
Warden Intern at Otmoor.