A petition started by a Toronto wildlife photographer who recently found two dead snowy owls at Tommy Thompson Park has grown to more than 17,000 signatures in its call for rat poison to be banned in the city.
Steven Shpak launched the Change.org petition after finding the dead birds on a frozen pond on Dec. 27. He said he suspected their deaths may have been caused by rat poison.
In an update, Shpak said tests have since come back showing the owls had bird flu at the time of their deaths.
“There is still a possibility that they may have been poisoned also (due) to the fact that vomiting blood is not a symptom of bird flu,” he said, adding that the bloody vomit he saw is a common side-effect of poisoning from rodenticide, or rat poison, a regularly used pesticide to kill mice and rats.
Owls prey on rodents.
The photographer, who said he had previously spotted the same owls in the east-end park, reported the deaths to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and the Ministry of Natural Resources.
No official cause of death had been confirmed.
Rodenticide is legal in most of Ontario. It’s available at hardware stores and used by some private pest control companies in Toronto.
“Rat poison does not just affect wildlife; cats and dogs are also known to both play with and eat rodents. Our pets can easily become victims of these unnecessary poisons,” Shpak said. “By properly storing our garbage and using alternative methods of rat control, such as live traps, snap traps and newer birth control methods, we can manage the rodent population without harming the precious wildlife that makes Toronto so beautiful and unique.
“The loss of our wildlife is something we cannot stand by and accept. If we don’t protect our wildlife, they may vanish, becoming but a memory to look back upon in old photos.”
Shpak gave an example of a female great horned owl that was found dead in a tree in High Park in 2022. He said the cause of death was determined to be from rat poison and added that the owl’s mate now sits alone in High Park and can be heard calling out in the evening.
“(We) can’t stand by and allow more innocent animals to die from these harmful substances,” the photographer said, “when there are humane alternatives available for pest control.”