A compromise to limit the use of a controversial rat poison has environmentalists criticizing a new Connecticut law.
Wildlife advocates say second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, or SGAR, which kill rodents by causing uncontrollable bleeding in their bodies, have a devastating ripple effect in the environment. Any animal that eats a contaminated rodent, also gets poisoned and often dies.
“We're seeing a lot more animals coming down, secondarily poisoned,” Christine Cummings, director of a rehabilitation and education center for birds of play known as A Place Called Hope, said. “We're seeing a lot of animals that, if they're not dead yet, they have what we call sub-lethal dosages in their body.”
“We had submitted to UConn and Michigan State University 102 dead animals to find out what anticoagulant rodenticide chemicals were found in their livers and 79 came back positive for SGAR,” Cummings said.
The founder of another bird rehabilitation center, Christine’s Critters, said there are likely countless secondary poisonings we won’t see.
“A bird that has rat poison, if they hadn't been rescued and if they die, a fox, a scavenger is going to come eat that animal,” Christine Peyreigne said. “It's going to work its way and continue to work its way up the food chain.”
That’s why wildlife advocates backed a House bill in the General Assembly that would have put a partial ban on SGARs.
Instead what Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law was a climate bill that contained a provision, which put SGARs in a new restricted category.
So anyone in Connecticut wanting to purchase second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides will need a state license starting Jan. 1, 2026.
“It'll actually have the effect of limiting, greatly, the amount of product that's sold in the state,” said Diane Jorsey, a supervising environmental analyst with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
But wildlife lovers like Cummings said the new restriction won’t change anything because it won’t change the way pest control companies operate and “they are the ones overusing SGARs.”
“It's an absolute bogus way to make us go away,” Cummings said.
The president of The Connecticut Pest Control Association argues his members do use SGARs responsibly.
“The first step is an integrated pest management inspection,” Lance Trovato said. “We want to take a look at the property first. We want to determine how they're getting inside, if we can, if there's exclusion that we can do, we certainly want to do that first. SGARs are just one of the tools that we use.”
Trovato believes the new restriction on SGAR will help stop people from using these products inappropriately and illegally.
"I have seen cases where I've gone to houses for inspections and people just take buckets of rodenticide and dump it outside because they have mice coming in,” he said.
Pest control options that avoid poison
Wildlife supporters Cummings and Peyreigne both advocate for the wider adoption of birth control products for rodents, and urge homeowners to use non-toxic rodent traps to get rid of pests in the home.
The town of Fairfield, CT launched a one year pilot program this spring to use birth control treatments to manage rodent populations at three different public sites.
Hartford began using it in 2021 to reduce the rodent population in Bushnell Park and city officials say the birth control bait boxes are working.
But the city is using it in tandem with other tools such as filling suspected rodent burrows with carbon monoxide to kill them in their nests.
After crews use a hose to pump carbon monoxide into the tunnels, they close up tunnel openings and they will return in a few days to see if they have remained closed which signals to them the rodents have been killed. If the burrows had been reopened, it was not.
Carbon monoxide is not an option for homeowners or apartment buildings, according to pest control industry leaders.
“You cannot use it adjacent to a building, to a structure. You can't use it inside your home at all,” Trovato said. “So that is strictly for burrows in the ground, away from a structure.”
Trovato also doesn’t think birth control is an effective option for structures with mice because, while it prevents the rodent from reproducing, it doesn’t make the rodent go away.
“They're still living inside your home. They're still urinating, defecating, walking all over your services. These mice, inside of the right conditions, can live six months to two years,” Trovato said.
How homeowners can prevent rodent problems
One thing both sides do agree on is, if you don’t stop attracting the rodents, no chemical treatment will solve the problem on its own.
Hartford made Bushnell Park less welcoming to rodents by removing excessive brush and overgrowth from around Corning Fountain and getting rid of a large storage unit.
“Rats like shade, they like shadows and more exposure is not a good habitat for them,” said Liz Kavanah, Hartford’s Chief Environmental Health Sanitarian.
Cummings said the same rules apply to homes because rodents like to hide and tunnel in vegetation, where predators can't see them.
“Cut away any ground cover around the foundations,” Cummings said. “Make sure that trees and bushes are far enough from your structures where they can't get onto the roof.”
Cummings also said remove any food source from your yards. Rats and mice will eat birdseed and feces left by any family pet.
The city of Hartford offers an online guide of other steps homeowners should take to prevent rodent problems.
Wildlife advocates and the pest control industry both say homeowners must close off any opening which is giving rodents a way into your home.
“I absolutely recommend going around the outside of your house and look for anything that's going inside the house, as far as plumbing, electrical. Look for gaps around windows and doors,” Trovato said.
Cummings said a mouse can fit in a hole as small as a dime, a rat only needs a hole the size of a quarter.
