Great article on “Owls in Belmont Victims of Rodent Poison.”
Using rodenticides to deal with a rodent problem is akin to using bug zappers on mosquitoes: the natural predators of your pests are killed.
In 2020, California restricted most uses of anticoagulant rodenticides, and there are efforts in many states to do the same.
The Belmont Health Department, in response to reports of rats around the Grove Street playing fields and playgrounds, deployed black boxes with mechanical rodent traps, NOT rodenticides, according to a Health Department employee. New York City, after years of battling its rat problem, is finally taking effective steps to control the problem by requiring trash bins vs. the traditional trash bags piled on curbs.
Low-tech or no-tech solutions are the way to control rodent issues. No one has yet built a better mousetrap.
Brian Iler Peekskill Hollow Road, Putnam Valley, N.Y. [formerly School Street, Belmont]