Reported Wildlif

Reported Wildlif

Incidents for Incidents for

Rodenticides

P t ti resen

t

ation

t

o th

e SAP

November 29, 2011

Justin Housenger, M S. .

Environmental Fate and Effects Division
Outline

• Purpose• Methods used in analysis

• Exposure (primary vs. secondary)

• Location (urban/suburban vs. rural)

• Results 

• Raw incident counts• Sp y atial analysis

• Monitoring studies from open literature• Conclusions
Purpose

• To compile wildlife incident reports and inve

what they reveal about the following: 

• Incident reports resulting from primary and seco

p g oisoning with

• Brodifacoum• Difethialone• Warfarin• Bromethalin• Chlorophacinone• Di h i p ac none

• The occurrence of accumulated residues of rod

in wildlife in wildlife

• Evaluation of where documented wildlife incide
Incident Reports

• DO NOT allow for a quantificatio

th f f ildlif t lit the 

frequency o

f wildlife mor

t

ality 

associated with rodenticide use 

• DO demonstrate that rodenticide

assoc a ed d e o a y ia

ted with wil

dlif

e m

ort

alit

y
It’s Important to Remember 

• Reported incidents likely represe

small fraction of actual incidents occur:

• Size of carcass• Incidents ma

y p be seen but not re

p

• An incident may be reported but n

linked to a cause

• Rodenticide incidents generally 

involve one animal involve one animal
Wildlife Incident Ana

• Incidents compiled for terrestrial 

vertebrates

• Multiple incident databases were 

queried:

• Ecological Incident Information Syst

(EIIS)

• Incident Database System (IDS)

• Contaminant Exposure and Effects –

Terrestrial Vertebrates Database (C

• Avian Incident Monitoring System (A
Information in a Typical Rode

Incident Report

• Habitat• N d ti i ti Necropsy an

d tissue examinatio

• Residue analysis • GI tract examination GI tract examination
Inclusion of Incident

• Incidents included based on:

• Legality (Registered use misuse 

Legality (Registered use, misuse, 

undetermined)

• Misuses were not counted Misuses were not counted

• C t i t (R f l t d 

Cer

t

ain

ty (Ranges 

from unrela

t

e

d

highly probable)

• Likelihood that the chemical caused 

observed effects in the incident repo

• U l d d lik l d Unrelate

d an

d unlik

ely not counte

d
Discovery of Carca

Hosea et al, Anticoagulant Rodenticide Exposure in an Urban Population of the San Joaqu
Necropsy of Carcass

Hosea et al, Anticoagulant Rodenticide Exposure in an Urban Population of the San Joaquin 
Hemorrhage in Abdominal 

Hosea et al, Anticoagulant Rodenticide Exposure in an Urban Population of the San Joaqu
Proportion of Incident Repor

b

y Certainty Level 

Proportion of Incident Repor

b

y y Certainty Level 

2% 8%

10%

HP

53%

PUU

27%
Reported Wildlife Mortality Inc

Rodenticide Active Ingredient

Bird Total Mammal Total O

T

Brodifacoum 188 79 2Difethialone

4

1

5

Warfarin 6 2 8Chlorophacinone 7 4 1Diphacinone 6 13 1Bromethalin 0 1 1Total Incident Total Incident 211 100 3

Reports

211 100 3
Assigning Exposure Route to In

• Incidents were characterized as a pr

secondary, or unknown exposure

• Stomach/crop contents (when availa

were considered for omnivores were considered for omnivores

• D i ti b d i d

Designation was 

base

d on species d
Determining Location Inform

I id h “h bi ” Incident 

has “h

abitat

” I id 

field entry

Y

Incident 

classified a

No

Incident report has 

t l ti

- Incident co

urban

- Incident 

GIS (

Yes

exac

t carcass location 

information

GIS maps (

o

No

- Incident counted in analysis 

as rural or urban/suburban. 

- Address or related 

information transferred to GIS

Yes

information transferred to GIS

coordinates and populated into 

location maps (for 

brodifacoum only) 


New York

Rochester

Syracuse

Utica Albany

Buffalo

Jamestown

New York

Albany, NY
Brodifacoum Analysis

Exposure Location 

Urban/Suburban Rural Unknown/Other

Primary 34 4 6 

Secondary 97 50 39 

Unknown 19 8 10 

Primary Exposure Species Reported:• Deer• Opossum

Sil

Secondary Exposure Species R• Barn, barred, eastern screechand great horned owls

•

Squirrel G ld d A i b ld 

• Raccoon• Chipmunk• Raven

•

G

olden an

d

American 

b

ald e

• Red-tailed, red-shouldered, Cand broad winged hawks• Turke

y and black vultures

• Goose• Robin• Pigeon

y

• Falcon• Mountain lion*• Bobcat• W l ease• Skunk• Gray and red foxes• Coyote
Difethialone Analysis

Exposure Location 

Urban/Suburban Rural Unknown

Primary 1 0 0 

Secondary 4 0 0 

Primary Exposure Species Re

ported:

Secondary Exposure Sp

p Re

ported:

• Key Deer

• Red-tailed and red-shhawks • Red fox Red fox
Warfarin Analysis

Exposure Location 

Urban/Suburban Rural Unknown

Primary 0 1 2 

Secondary 1 1 3 

Primary Exposure Species Reported:

Sil

Secondary Exposure SReported:

•

Squ

irre

l C ’h k

• Bobwhite quail

•

Cooper’s 

haw

k

• Bald eagle• Pere

grine falcon

• Great horned owl
Chlorophacinone Analysis

Exposure Location 

Urban/Suburban Rural Unknown

Primary 3 3 0 

Secondary 1 1 2 

Unknown

0

1

0

Primary Exposure Species Reported:

Q il

Secondary Exposure SReported:

•

Quail

d il d h k

• Turkey•

S

quirrel

• Re

d-tail

e

d

haw

k

• Bobcat

q

• Bad

ger

• Coyote
Diphacinone Analysi

Exposure Location 

Urban/Suburban Rural Unknown

Primary 5 1 4 

Secondary 2 2 5 

Primary Exposure Species Primary Exposure Species Secondary Exposure SReported:• Quail

Pi

Secondary Exposure SReported:• Turkey vulture

• Pigeon B dd • Kangaroo rat•

S

quirrel

•

Barre

d an

d snowy ow

• Red-tailed hawk

q

• Co

yote

• Deer

• San Joaquin kit fox• Raccoon• Mountain lion Mountain lion
Bromethalin Analysi

Exposure Location 

Urban/Suburban Rural Unknown

Primary 0 0 1 

Primary Exposure Species Reported:•

Chi k pmun

k

Bromethalin is not normall

y y included in the anal

ytical sc

rodenticides conducted on carcasses, which typically incscreen of anticoagulant rodenticidesBromethalin, unlike the anticoagulant rodenticides, showsigns of toxicity during necropsy (i.e, no hemorrhaging)
Wildlife Monitoring Studies Sh

Secondary Exposure to Roden

• Additional line of evidence for secon

Additional line of evidence for secon

exposure route 

• Not necessarily assigned as a causa

agent for mortality

• When causal, they were included as 

incident in the analysis incident in the analysis
Rodenticides in Raptors, Cen

Massachusetts, 2006-2010 (Murray

Species

N Brodifacoum Difet

Red-Tailed Hawks

80 89 % 1

Owls 81 83 % 1
Rodenticides in Raptors, San Diego Co

Central Valley, California (Lima and Salm

County N Brodifacoum Difethialone ChloroSan Diego Count

y

53 83 % 9.4 % 

Central Valley

43 12 % 0 % 
Rodenticides in Bobcats and Mountain 

Southern California 1997- 2003 (Riley et 

Species

N Brodifacoum Difethialone Di

Bobcats 39 79 % 26 % Mountain

4 100 % 25 % 

lions

4 100

% 25

%
Rodenticides in San Joaquin Kit Fox

California 1999 – 2007 

( 

McMillin et a

Species N Brodifacoum Chlorop

San Joaquin Kit 

Fox

30 87 % 3 
Carcass Recovery Locat

Cypher et al, Anticoagulant Rodenticide Exposure in an Urban Population of the San Joaq
Incident Analysis Conclu

Birds

Chemical Primary Exposure Secondary Exposure Urb

BrodifacoumDifethialone No dataWarfarinChlorophacinoneDiphacinoneBromethalin No data No data No data No data 

Mammals

Brodifacoum

DifethialoneWarfarin No data ChlorophacinoneDiphacinoneBromethalin No data