Where Is Rat Poison Restricted?

Rats and mice are relatively small animals, but rodent infestations can cause some big problems. It only takes a couple of rodents to start a chain reaction that can cause untold damage to your property. Rats and mice can spread disease, spoil food, and generally wreak havoc within any environment they call home.

Given the severity of the situation, it's little surprise that people often want to use the most extreme options available to them. Unfortunately, over time people have discovered that a lot of those extreme measures can hurt far more than rodents. Rat poisons in particular have caused countless instances where native wildlife, and even people, have been hurt alongside the rodents. Recognition of these problems has led to a plethora of laws and regulations regarding rat poisons. In fact, there are so many laws and regulations that it's often difficult to know where rat poisons are restricted and what that might entail. But understanding the legal restrictions on rat poison requires some examination of how these substances actually function.

How Do Rodenticides Work?

Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides are one of the biggest reasons for increasingly strict regulation on rat poison. An anticoagulant inhibits the body's ability to stop bleeding. Think back to the last time you experienced a small cut on your body. The wound typically stops bleeding within a few minutes because your body can seal up the wound through coagulation.

Anticoagulant rodenticides inhibit a rodent's ability to seal up wounds. Anticoagulants are carried through a rodent's bloodstream so that eventually no part of their body can properly heal from even the smallest wounds. Some rodenticides carry this further by actually damaging blood vessels, which triggers internal bleeding. The anticoagulant factors then ensure that