Red tailed hawk hospital12/14/2023 Thus, as part of her research, Hopf-Dennis and her colleagues hope to validate a new diagnostic test for AR toxicity in birds that could easily be used in the clinic. However, clinical symptoms of sub-lethal rodenticide poisoning can be vague - lethargy, lack of appetite and dullness are signs of many other conditions, too. With a treatment that requires months of captivity for a wild animal, clinicians want to be sure they’ve got the right diagnosis before doing it. Because second-generation ARs designed to stay in an animal’s body for over 100 days, this treatment often has to occur for several months as the toxin works its way out of the patient’s system. To treat AR poisoning, veterinarians supplement patients with vitamin K. While anticoagulation rodenticides are regulated by the EPA and sales to consumers have been halted, “They may still be sold at some stores, or people have a backlog of them in their basement,” says Hopf-Dennis. The uptick in poisonings implies that AR use is widespread. “Rodenticide toxicity is widespread in wildlife in neighboring states like Massachusetts, but recent documentation in birds of prey in our area is lacking and is higher than expected given recent regulations on second-generation rodenticides.” “This is important for New York raptors,” says Hopf-Dennis. Disturbingly, most of the birds tested had rodenticide in their system. All birds came from across New York state. However, Hopf-Dennis and her colleagues at Cornell had access to several red-tailed hawks to carry out their study - including 23 healthy red-tailed hawks from local rehabilitators and outreach programs, and 49 free-ranging red-tailed hawks that came to the hospital as patients. Understanding the true impacts of these poisonings on wild raptors has proved difficult, as scientists do not have regular access to the animals. The toxins can stay in animals’ systems for over 100 days, meaning poisoned rodents may not die immediately and are more likely to be eaten by raptors, like red-tailed hawks, passing on the poison to them. At high doses, this causes uncontrolled bleeding, shock and death in animals, while sub-lethal doses cause lethargy and overall poor health. They disrupt the body’s ability to clot blood through blocking the availability of vitamin K. Rodenticides can stay in an raptor’s body for over 100 days, thus treatment can take several months as the toxin works its way out of the patient’s system. “It’s much more prevalent than I would have ever thought.” Swanson Wildlife Hospital and first author on the study. Cynthia Hopf-Dennis, clinical assistant professor at the Janet L. “It was a surprise to see how pervasive this problem is,” says Dr. The paper, published May 12 in Ecotoxicology, details how 68% of red-tailed hawks have anticoagulant rodenticide (AR) toxins in their systems, indicating that poisoning of this kind is widespread across New York state raptors. Birds of prey are in trouble, according to a recent study by clinical researchers at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |