MA Bill Would Regulate Poison That Killed 3 Eagles In 2 Years

BOSTON, MA — Following the death of the third eagle poisoned in Massachusetts in two years earlier this month, the Charles River Watershed Association is drawing attention to a bill being considered by the Massachusetts legislature that would help protect animals from rodenticidespoisoning, the association said in a Friday news release.

Bill HD.577, sponsored by Representative Hawkins and Senator Feeney, would mandate reporting when SGAR rodenticides are used on publicly-owned properties like elementary schools, and require consideration of other pest management options, the Charles River Watershed Association said.

Concerns about wildlife poisoning were reignited in Massachusetts earlier this month after a bald eagle known as "MK," whose life with her mate "KZ" has been documented since she was hatched in Waltham in 2016, was admitted to and later died at the New England Wildlife Center after being found sick and unable to fly in an Arlington cemetery in late February.

According to the center, MK suffered severe anemia and weakness that prevented her from standing, which they believe to be caused by anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning after she ate a rodent that had consumed rat poison.

"We are heartbroken by the recent tragic and unnecessary death of yet another bald eagle in the greater Boston region," the Charles River Watershed Association wrote, adding that MK's death underscores "the critical need to ban these poisons as a means of pest control."

“Massachusetts needs to ban the use of these lethal rodenticides and turn to more humane methods of pest control that don’t kill pets and wildlife, including bald eagles," Jennifer Ryan, Deputy Director of Advocacy at the Charles River Watershed Association, said in the news release. "We can and must do better."