On Monday, May 13th, Harvard’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic submitted a formal legal petition to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) requesting the immediate suspension of anticoagulant rodenticides registration/use in the state. Laura Kiesel is one of the petitioners on behalf of Save Arlington Wildlife, along with Marci Cemenska of Save Lexington Wildlife; Erin Hutchings, Jodi Swenson, and Linda Amato of Cape Ann Wildlife, Inc,; Jane Newhouse of Newhouse Wildlife Rescue, Jim and Patty-Sears Joyce of Friends of Horn Pond.
In a separate request, the coalition is also calling for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to investigate the impacts of rodenticides on species protected by the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act (MESA) and ensure that MDAR is exhausting all avenues to avoid harming state- protected species.
Many thanks to the Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program and the hard work of their students, and the other petitioners who work tirelessly to advocate for, rescue and rehabilitate, wildlife harmed by rodenticides in Massachusetts. Cape Ann Wildlife in particular offered invaluable data that made this petition possible.
Now it’s the state’s move!