SANTA MONICA—Assembly Member Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) has proposed bill (AB 1788), which will ban specific pesticide control methods such as using rat poisoning. 

“This bill would create the California Ecosystems Protection Act of 2019 and expand this prohibition against the use of a pesticide containing specified anticoagulants in wildlife habitat areas to the entire state,” states bill AB 1788.

A mountain lion known as P-47, was found dead in the Santa Monica Mountains in March 2019. After testing and trying to find the cause of death, the lab showed that there was anticoagulant rodenticide also know as rat poisoning found in the mountain lion’s system. 

According to the National Park Services, “Testing on a sample of his liver showed that the three-year-old male had been exposed to six different anticoagulant compounds, and a necropsy conducted by the California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab found internal hemorrhaging in his head and lungs,” stated the National Park Service in a press release on its website.

When the rodent digest the poison, a predator may consume the rodent and the poison will get passed down throughout the food chain making it to the top of the food chain. 

The Santa Monica Mountains began a hashtag #Breaktheposionchain to try and educate the public about the negative effects of rat poison.