A groundbreaking exposé of the widespread use of rat poisons and their deadly toll on animals—and us.
Authored by the founder and director of Save Arlington Wildlife, Laura Kiesel, Animal Collateral is the first non-fiction book for a mainstream audience that focuses on the the impacts of rodenticides (rat poisons) in the United States. Publication date: April 2027 from the Island Press imprint of Princeton University Press (PUP).
Description from the PUP website: Bald eagles are a conservation success story, rebounding after DDT and other harmful chemicals, which drove them to near extinction, were banned. But today, eagles and other wildlife face a new threat: rat poisons. Animal Collateral reveals the truth about these poisons the chemical companies and their lobbyists don’t want you to hear, describing how SGARs—an especially deadly class of poison used in bait boxes found around homes, businesses, and communities—are killing owls, hawks, eagles, foxes, coyotes, and other wildlife. SGARs and other lethal anticoagulants are also killing pets as well as people and have even sickened large numbers of children—all while proving ineffective at solving the rodent problem.
Laura Kiesel shares the tragic stories of Flaco, the owl who captured the hearts of New Yorkers after escaping from the Central Park Zoo; MK, a female bald eagle that became a local celebrity in the Boston area; and P-45, a pregnant California mountain lion. She investigates the industries that are prioritizing profits over public health, exposing the dubious tactics used by chemical companies to protect their bottom line despite mounting evidence of harm. Kiesel also interrogates our deep prejudices against rats, examining why we demonize some species while revering others.
Animal Collateral ultimately delivers a message of hope, describing the practical steps each of us can take to protect our families and communities and profiling the courageous individuals and grassroots organizers who are leading the charge against these poisons.**
While the book is national in scope, it begins and ends in Arlington, introducing us to MK and her fledgling C25 and the Menotomy Rocks Park owls and how their tragic deaths due to rat poisons motivated the town to take aggressive action on rodenticides that kicked off a movement in Massachusetts! Consider pre-ordering your book today @ Bookshop.
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