Killing by starvation is quite horrible, and a slow proces for the hardy
Norway rat which can live quite long without food. Chances are you are
killing them by dehydration, an unpleasant sentence itself. A good thwap
on the head with a hammer or a spike through the brain is much kinder. And
it is certainly better than releasing it elsewhere.

The most common rat poison pellet is Warfarin (sp?). This is basically a
blood thinner and some of us take it in prescription form for various
reasons.  But the high dose in the pellets causes severe internal bleeding
in the rats and leads to death. But it also serves the same effect in
dogs, cats, and all manner of wildlife, including birds. Then there is the
secondary effects on anything eating one of the dead rats and ingesting
the poison that way.  This is only a temporary solution and a messy one at
that. It is best to clean up the trash and habitat.

Hulled seed will mitigate the problem a bit.


William Randolph
Keedysville, MD
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Pests at my feeders


I bought
commercial  rat-killer pack and would leave out a set number of pellets
each night,  counting  them beforehand so as to keep track of their
feeding.

The other time, the rats were fewer in number but eating seed out front. I
  bought a Havahart trap (small size with only one entrance) because I
didn't  want  to risk a regular rat trap killing either a bird or one of
my many  squirrels.  Caught in one of these traps, a rat will die pretty
quickly from  starvation. I  have no qualms about killing Norway Rats;
they are a pest (as in  pestilance!),  an invasive alien and a terrific
vector of disease.  Letting them go  in a  park just makes them someone
elses problem.

Switch to a good bird seed, either hulled sunflower or regular sunflower, 
 and/or white millet, or safflower. The birds should do a pretty good job 
eating  it with little waste.

Rick Sussman
Ashton,MD




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