Help Save Birds – Tell Chicago to Reduce Rat Poison Use, Adopt Alternative Methods

Friends of the Chicago River supports the call by the Chicago Bird Alliance for the City of Chicago to reduce its spending on ineffective rodenticides – which have the unintended consequence of killing a terrible number of birds and other wildlife species that prey on rodents – and explore other methods to address rodent control. Rodenticide is more commonly known as "rat poisoning." 

You can take action to curb the use of rat poison by signing a petition calling on the mayor, the City Council, and the Department of Streets and Sanitation to reduce the rodenticide budget by 20% and redirect the funds to study alternative, and more effective, ways to reduce the rodent population in the city.

In August, a report by the Head Veterinarian at the DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center confirmed that a family of great horned owls that captivated residents of the Lincoln Park neighborhood died as the result of rat rodenticide toxicity. Easy access to rodenticides makes easy for homeowners to kill wildlife too.