Rat poison affects urban wildlife in Cape Town

[Still Waters]

Urban rat poisons are spilling over into Cape Town's natural environment, threatening species such as caracal, mongoose, otter and owl, a team of University of Cape Town (UCT) researchers in the Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa (iCWild) has discovered.

In their recent paper, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, the researchers found that anticoagulant rat poisons are infiltrating Cape Town's peri-urban wildlife food chains. The study, believed to be the first of its kind, was conducted within and around Cape Town's Table Mountain National Park.

These animals already face challenges that include increasing habitat loss, vehicle collisions, poachers and fire, says lead author Dr. Laurel Serieys, a postdoctoral research fellow at the iCWild.

https://phys.org/news/2019-05-rat-poison-affects-peri-urban-wildlife.html