No one likes rats or mice in their home, but certain types of rodent poisons are causing serious, and sometimes deadly, problems with our native birdlife, wildlife and even our pets.

We're talking about a group of chemicals called second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARS), found in many common rat baits you can buy at hardware stores, supermarkets and garden centres.

The problem? SGARs don’t just kill pests. They stay in a rodent’s system for a long time, so when a tawny frogmouth, powerful owl, a goanna, Spot your dog or Tabby your cat eats a poisoned rat, they get poisoned too – often with dire consequences.

The good news is there are safer options out there for you, your pets and our wildlife. If you do have a pesky rat issue, look for products that don’t have dangerous SGAR chemicals such as brodifacoum, bromadiolone and difethialonedifethialone. Try safer alternatives such as snap traps, sodium chloride and warfarin.

Council is doing its bit by discontinuing the use of these harmful SGARs and using the safer control options to protect our native species, birdlife, reptiles and invertebrates.

It only takes a small change to make a big impact on the health of our local environment. Choosing wildlife-friendly rodent control means fewer poisonings, fewer vet visits and more of our beautiful birds and animals staying safe and thriving.

For more information about non native species, visit our website.