Abstract

Anticoagulant rodenticides are often used in rodent control. Pets such as cats, dogs, or birds such as sparrows and pigeons can be poisoned accidentally by ingesting rodenticide bait, which is regarded as primary poisoning. Wild animals such as owls, foxes, jackals, on the other hand, usually hunt rodents and have no interest in bait. When a rodent consumes an anticoagulant rodenticide bait, it exhibits abnormal behaviors such as movement disorders, reduced flight response and usually dies within a few days. As a result, predators can easily hunt the poisoned rodents. However, rodenticides that already have accumulated in the prey’s body may affect the predator, leading to secondary poisoning. Secondary poisoning occurs more frequently, especially in areas where human settlement is close to the wildlife. In this review, we evaluated the published data of rodenticide poisoning in animals and showed the risks of anticoagulant rodenticides, particularly in the case of wildlife. Many studies have reported both primary and secondary rodenticide poisoning in domestic and wild animal species in many parts of Europe, America, and Australia. There is, however, no report on rodenticide poisoning in wild animals in Turkey.