A long-term study finds high levels of rat poison in wedge-tailed eagles, suggesting that the toxins are having a broad impact on the food chain.
"So many things eat them and they're so much more attractive when they're poisoned and staggering around … predators just can't resist them."
Described as "napalm" for mice, Dr Pay believes the untargeted use of second-generation poisons like bromadiolone could spell disaster, not just for wedge-tailed eagles, but anything that eats rodents or the baits used to kill them. "I can't stress enough, I think we are scratching the absolute surface when we say, 'OK, it's only X amount per year,' those are only the ones we know about and it is much, much higher than any of us wish to think.""I would say pretty confidently that 90 per cent of people that I've talked to about this issue hadn't really considered secondary poisoning, but are very aware of baits being potentially very dangerous," he said.
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