Bald Eagles Succumb to Rat Poison on Alaskan Island


	Bald Eagles Succumb to Rat Poison on Alaskan Island

chestnut501

7-4-2009 11:13 PM

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tags:

news, conservation, wildlife, preservation, eagles, poison, rat-poison, brodifacoum, aleutian-islands, environment

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7-5-2009 12:01 PM

lollipop10

Oh gee. Who would have thought.

Duh.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/3cb4c9d6-e3d7-406c-a72e-fe47eb3209ac/083B9AF8-DA91-4FCD-BF32-CE1C7CB795A8/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bald-eagles-succumb-to-poison-in-ra-2009-07-01" href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bald-eagles-succumb-to-poison-in-ra-2009-07-01" style="font-size: 11px;">www.scientificamerican.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bald-eagles-succumb-to-poison-in-ra-2009-07-01">Last month we <A 
href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=did-the-rat-island-restoration-effo-2009-06-12">reported</A> 
on bald eagles and other birds found dead after a rat eradication project in 
Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. The National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., 
has confirmed that the birds were casualties of brodifacoum, the poison used in 
bait scattered around Rat Island by helicopter.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bald-eagles-succumb-to-poison-in-ra-2009-07-01"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.scientificamerican.com/img/102B159F-D4A8-4B41-AC16-9568672B5BEE" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bald-eagles-succumb-to-poison-in-ra-2009-07-01"><P>For two centuries, invasive rats on the island have ravaged populations of ground-nesting seabirds. In September, Island Conservation, the Nature Conservancy, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dropped rat poison from helicopters after an <A href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http:%2F%2Falaskamaritime.fws.gov%2Fpdf%2Frat_assessment_508.pdf&ei=_qMySq3TOISotAP7peHVBg&usg=AFQjCNFjDSCyIjx367KhCl8T5Kz16AI0Gg&sig2=Xj3-DSWPjJiPgPqxJ-BzVQ">environmental assessment </A>concluded birds were unlikely to be harmed because the rodents would perish in their burrows.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bald-eagles-succumb-to-poison-in-ra-2009-07-01"><P>A recent <A href="http://www.fws.gov/news/NewsReleases/showNews.cfm?newsId=D1853646-F27F-23F3-9E027F384A3AF96D">census</A> found puffins and other seabirds were returning to nest on the island in the absence of rats. But wildlife workers also discovered corpses from 43 bald eagles, 213 glaucous-winged gulls, and several other species. The scientists believe gulls may have consumed the poison cakes and were then preyed upon by eagles.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/083B9AF8-DA91-4FCD-BF32-CE1C7CB795A8/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>