Protect Wildlife: Ban Rodenticides in Saskatoon

Strychnine was officially banned in Canada in 2024, and the ruling went into effect in September 2024. This ruling meant that this highly toxic chemical compound would no longer be allowed for controlling Richardson’s ground squirrel populations. Just like the nationwide ban on dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in 1990, this was a major win for Richardson’s ground squirrels and all of the predator species that relied on them for food.

However, the problem didn’t go away. Instead, poisonings persisted, but with a shift towards the extremely harmful and equally inhumane use of chlorophacinone, or anticoagulant rodenticides.

 

Rozol, the most common brand-name rodenticide, is a second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide. Anticoagulant rodenticides prevent blood from clotting, resulting in internal bleeding.

Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides have been used to control rodent populations instead of Strychnine, but Rozol is no less harmful to the environment and other wildlife. Poison does not discriminate and works its way up the food chain, affecting prey, predator, and everything in between. Domestic animals are not immune to the effects of poison either.

Use your voice and express your opinion to the City Council on the matter:

1. Write a letter via the online platform: https://www.saskatoon.ca/write-letter-councilcommittees
2. Speak to the matter at a Committee Meeting.
3. Write or speak to your own City Councillor.
4. If the City is unable or unwilling to ban the poison outright, we would like them to at least consider a mandatory signage program. Signs that are visible to the public at addresses where they have used the poison would provide the local community with the knowledge and the ability to take steps to protect their pets as needed. There is a similar signage requirement for companies using pesticides on lawns to ensure they notify the neighbourhood via a sign that the lawn was treated with pesticides.

 

Sign petitions actively opposing the use of rodenticides:

End the Use of Rodenticides on University of Saskatchewan Grounds