NAHANT — President of Safer Waters in Massachusetts, Vi Patek, spoke during the latest Select Board meeting, where she gave a presentation on a potential by-law for the use of rodenticides in town.
During the presentation, Patek explained how Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs) are a class of poisons that prevent blood clotting, and that when an animal ingests a lethal dose, it dies slowly, “making it an easy target for predators.
“This makes SGARs harmful for (both) predators and pets. When they prey on poisoned rodents, they develop painful — and often fatal — internal bleeding. Sometimes, this takes as much as a week for them to die,” Patek said. “While federal law bans the retail sale of SGARs, these poisons remain legal and widely used by licensed pest control professionals in Massachusetts.”
She continued, noting that “even pets are often harmed each year.” Patek added that the MSPCA Angel Veterinary Hospital treats dozens of dogs, cats, and other household pets for SGAR poisoning.
Wendy Wornham, who is on the Board of Directors for Safer Waters in Massachusetts (SWIM), said “groups and other towns are also working toward the goal of banning SGARs, suggesting other ways to kill rodents and educate the public.”
“Swampscott is working on this and shared their draft with us to create our own by-law. There are two bills before the State Senate and House addressing this goal. … We received an announcement yesterday from Mass Audubon about the efforts around the Commonwealth to ban SGARs,” Wornham said.
The announcement noted that there are at least 92 communities organizing with over 40 towns and cities reducing the use of SGARs on public property, with 19 of those communities filing home rule petitions to restrict SGARs on private property.
Wornham added that SWIM collaborated with Dan Skrip, legal counsel for the Town, to write the draft of the by-law.
In a follow-up conversation, Acting Town Administrator Alison Nieto said that she spoke with the Department of Public Works and confirmed that the Town doesn’t currently use rodenticides with SGARs.
“I thought it was a good presentation. I think it’s a good idea for the town, it has the support of the Select Board. SWIM will file it as a petition that’s due on Jan. 31 in order to be on the Town Meeting Warrant article,” Nieto said.
The state is working on two laws to ban this pesticide statewide, but before our town bylaws go into effect, we have to file a special request from the state to allow us to regulate pesticides, the state is in charge and controls all pesticide, if the town wants to create a new law, they have to be permitted to do so by the state.
“The state is working on two laws to ban this pesticide statewide, but before our town bylaws go into affect, we have to file a special request that allows us to regulate pesticides, as the state is in charge and controls all pesticides,” Patek said in a later conversation with The Item.
She added that “if the Town wants to create a new by-law, they have to be permitted to do so by the state.”
Select Board Chair Rob Tibbo said he was pleased that SWIM is “approaching this as a town-wide solution,” and that he supports the initiative entirely.
“The great comeback of the American Bald Eagle after they were nearly poisoned to extinction primarily by the pesticide DDT is an environmental success story many of us learned about in school,” Select Board member Pat O’Reilly said. “In recent years, I have been sad to hear about the loss of some beloved local eagles and other birds of prey like owls due to the use of rodenticides.”
O’Reilly continued, saying that “I am happy to hear that alternative methods are effective substitutes, and I enthusiastically support local efforts by SWIM and other individuals to craft an effective ban on the use of these poisons.”
