Five weeks ago fans of the Hays bald eagle family were worried that the smallest eaglet would starve. That didn’t happen. There’s plenty of food and all three are thriving but a new and opposite fear has taken its place. Just across the river one possible source of food is scheduled to be poisoned. What if the eagle family eats a poisoned rat?
Bald eagles eat a lot of fish but they’re also opportunistic omnivores. If a prey item is easy to catch they’ll eat it. Eaglecam viewers have seen the family eat many fish, some birds and quite a few rats.
No one thought much about Rats As Food until a bankrupt business across the river in Hazelwood made the news. The privately owned Pittsburgh Recycling Center closed its doors in January and walked away leaving behind stinking piles of garbage and lots of rats. Over the winter the rats multiplied and overflowed into the neighborhood. Nearby residents became so upset that they held a protest outside the warehouse last Friday.
On Monday the old warehouse was sold and the judge ordered the new owner to clean it up right away. Hazelwood breathed a sigh of relief that the rats would be poisoned but the eagle watchers began to worry. The Hays bald eagles are known to eat rats (see snapshot above). If they eat a poisoned rat it will kill them.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife knows this all too well. In 2009 they worked out a careful plan to kill the rats on an Aleutian island that had been a seabird nesting site 200 years ago. They air-dropped poisoned bait cakes, the rats died, the seabirds came back to nest. Only one thing went wrong. They found the corpses of 43 bald eagles, 213 glacuous-winged gulls and a peregrine falcon. Toxicology tests on several victims showed the project’s brodifacoum had killed them. USFW’s Bruce Woods told Scientific American that with further study “we will attempt to figure out what we can do better.”
How likely is it that the Hays eagles will eat a rat from the poisoned warehouse? We don’t know… but the warehouse is just a short flight away as seen by this snapshot from the eaglecam. The red arrow points to the big white roof of the old warehouse.
The eagle watchers are so concerned that they’ve contacted the newspapers and television, started an online petition, and written letters to the Allegheny County Health Department and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. (The County Health Department is in charge of rat cleanup.) These efforts have made everyone aware of the potential problem.
The rats are multiplying and have got to go. To do it right without harming wildlife will take some ingenuity. Fortunately, the pressure of the eagle watchers is making everyone put on their thinking caps.
p.s. Peregrine fans: Notice the obelisk on the horizon above the red arrow’s tail in the scene above. That obelisk is the Cathedral of Learning, home to peregrine falcons Dorothy and E2. As you can see, the eagles’ home is an easy commute for the peregrines.
(snapshots from PixController’s Pittsburgh Eaglecam. Click on the eagle photo to watch the eaglecam.)
Thanks for bringing this problem to light. I signed the petition yesterday as soon as I read about this issue. Each and every one of us that follows any wildlife website needs to sign the petition. If Kate feels it is appropriate I can post the website’s address for all to sign. The public outcry on this matter is amazing. While the rodent problem needs to be addressed, I think the town fathers do need to put on their thinking caps and come up with a non-lethal solution, we may even become a model for other cities with similar problems – wouldn’t it be nice to be known for this solution instead of the city that secondarily poisoned the bald eagles and their offspring.
Oh Kate, this is so frightening. There has been a story circulating about a collared mountain lion, P-22, in California who is suffering from rat poisoning.Just as our hometown hero Rachel Carson warned us of the increase and concentration of DDT toxins up the food chain, there is obvious evidence now that rodent poison has this same effect on predatory animals.A poison that can cripple a huge mammal like a mountain lion should not be this accessible.
Thank you so much for this information and links to the petition. With a little more effort and forethought, it seems eradication could be accomplished manually, not chemically.
I know that rats are bad, but rat poison is terrible stuff. At one barn where I boarded my horse, the owner caught all the cats and took them to the animal rescue because she wanted to start using rat poison at the barn. My 9-year-old daughter went out to the barn with me, and I was not happy that the owner was going to use rat poison, because I was afraid my daughter might accidentally get into it. I would hope that they can find some other way to deal with the rat problem.
UPDATE: Health Dept must approve rat extermination plan. Click here for an update by Mary Ann Thomas at the Trib.
When I saw them eating rats, my heart just sank. In CA, this has been in the news a lot recently, due to CA’s recent banning of over the counter rat poisons. Professionals will still be allowed to use them. The law hasn’t gone into effect yet, and D-Con is putting up a fight. Carolyn is right about P22. It’s been on our local news and LA Times, and the recent pictures of him are so sad. He had mange and traces of rat poison. He was treated, but of course, released back into the wild. (As wild as the Hollywood Hills are, anyway.) This is one reason cities like mine offer trap, neuter, release programs for feral cats. (We’ve done a few). Of course, then these wild cats are a threat to smaller birds. How wonderful, if Pgh. stepped up to solve this problem, if it’s not too late.
Hello, I know this is an old thread, but can anyone tell me what ever became of all the rats at the Pittsburgh Recycling Center? Were they killed without using poisons? Rat poisons of course are dangerous to many wildlife species. Am hoping the eagles didn’t get into trouble. Thanks!
Edie, it’s been a long time but I do remember this: The method for getting rid of the rats was changed because of the eagles. The entire eagle family was fine. They fledged 3 youngsters that year.