Author Archives: Laura Kiesel

On April 8, 2025, Save Arlington Wildlife received a report from Town Meeting Member Beth Melofchik of a dead Great Blue Heron in Hills Pond at Menotomy Rocks Park. One of our volunteers collaborated with retired wildlife rehabber and Arlington resident Ellen Reed to retrieve the heron from the Pond. The Great Blue Heron’s feet were entangled in fishing line that was dangling from a tree branch and there was a fishing hook impaled through its wing. Reed briefly examined it and determined the heron struggled on the line and drowned to death. Save Arlington Wildlife is sending the body to a vet for further examination and necropsy. Discarded fishing line waste is a huge issue at our local ponds and is responsible for injuries to our local wildlife. Last fall, Save Arlington Wildlife rescued a juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron at Spy Pond that also had a fish hook in its wing and the whole body was entangled in fishing line. While that heron was rehabilitated with the help of wildlife rehabber Julie Ford and Tufts Wildlife Clinic and released back onto the pond right before migration, others have not been so lucky. That same month, a Great Blue Heron was pictured at Hill’s Pond swallowing a fish still attached to a line and bobber. Without intervention, that heron suffered a slow death of strangulation and starvation. Numerous queries were put into Parks & Red to address this escalating issue though to SAW’s knowledge nothing was done at the time. Now we have a heron that died tragically due to completely avoidable circumstances. Our resident wildlife face increasing threats to their survival from habitat fragmentation, rodenticide poisoning, drought due to global warming and plastic pollution. It’s time we as a town seriously consider implementing more aggressive policies to meaningfully address fishing line casualties, including mandated restrictions on recreational fishing in sensitive wildlife habitat.

TAKE ACTION: PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION ASKING ARLINGTON TOWN MANAGER JIM FEENEY TO PAUSE RECREATION FISHING AT MENOTOMY ROCKS PARK! PETITION IS AVAILABLE HERE.

Please send follow up emails to Jim Feeney at JFeeney@town.arlington.ma.us and Arlington Parks & Rec Director Natasha Waden at nwaden@town.arlington.ma.us.

For more information and forthcoming actions, please visit this page.

The Save Massachusetts Wildlife Education Fund–or Save Mass Wildlife–premiered its first project: an animated short that educates about the harms rodenticides are causing our wildlife. Check it out:

SAW is asking Arlingtonians to remove their bird feeders this summer and keep them down through at least December 1st to protect our birds in order to reduce the town’s rat activity. Going forward, we’d like folks to take down feeders beginning in early April through early December. Studies have shown that homes that have bird feeders on the property are significantly more likely to have active rat burrows nearby than ones that do not. Even if you do not put down rat poison to deal with the rats that come to your yard attracted by your feeder, your neighbors often do. SAW regularly fields complaints from concerned Arlington residents who have one neighbor with feeders and another using rat poison to deal with the rodents the feeders attract. That rat poison, in turn, is killing off our birds of prey in Arlington, including our owls, hawks, and even our bald eagles, not to mention our foxes, coyotes, raccoons, opossums, and even some of our companion animals.

Please read up more on why we should reconsider bird feeders during warmer weather seasons, and tips/tricks for keeps rats away from feeders when the occasion calls for them by visiting SAW’s “Forgo the Feeder” campaign page. You will also find photographs of the diverse range of birds that still frequent feeder-free yards!

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!

We’re pleased to announce that Save Arlington Wildlife founder and director Laura Kiesel has recently launched The Save Massachusetts Wildlife Education Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of the nonprofit, Mission:Earth.

The Mission and Vision of the Save Massachusetts Wildlife Education Fund (SMWEF) is to educate the public about the presence and importance of wildlife in the Commonwealth, including in our state’s urban and suburban ecosystems. SMWEF seeks to raise awareness about the toxic and often fatal effects rodenticides (rat poisons) have on wildlife and companion animals. SMWEF will achieve this through offering supportive resources to locally established Save Wildlife chapters and initiatives in cities and towns around Massachusetts in order to educate their residents and push them toward tangible and positive changes that will better protect the wildlife in their own backyards. SMWEF’s strives for a poison- and pollution-free future. Under the fiscal sponsorship of Mission: Earth, The Save Massachusetts Wildlife Education Fund qualifies for tax-exempt donations and contributions to achieve this end. To donate, please visit:

The first step of SMWEF will be to draft and implement a comprehensive outreach program that can engage residents across the state of Massachusetts and inspire them to take action on rodenticide use and other challenges that harm wildlife populations in the Bay State. This will include more investments in larger scale commercial campaigns such as billboards, public transit ads, and events.

Photo courtesy of Newhouse Wildlife Rescue

Save Arlington Wildlife (SAW) has been closely following the issue of the illegal leg-hold traps that have injured two red foxes that reside in our town in the past two weeks. SAW has been in communication with relevant parties, including the state division of wildlife, the Arlington Town Manager, Newhouse Wildlife Rescue, the media, and many concerned residents in Arlington and Lexington.

SAW is aware that the first injured fox has seemingly removed the trap. It is strongly suspected he has chewed his paw off in order to do that, as several eyewitnesses have said that they have seen the fox moving about on three legs. SAW is very concerned about the welfare of this fox and his ability to continue to survive in the absence of medical care if the injured leg is infected. SAW also has concerns regarding the safety of our other wildlife, companion animals, and people–particularly children–that are at risk of being injured by other traps that may be present.

SAW is glad to hear that the Arlington Police Department is following state protocols and has been directly consulting with the Environmental Police and our state wildlife agency. SAW is also heartened to know that the APD has launched an investigation to identify the person who is setting these traps, which have been banned in the state of Massachusetts since 1975. SAW hopes Town officials will continue to invest significant time and resources in solving this case and ensuring the safety of our town’s inhabitants, both human and non-human.

In particular, SAW would like the Town of Arlington to prioritize locating the first fox so that his injuries can be assessed by a veterinary professional and the proper treatment prescribed. Additionally, SAW would like a local effort undertaken in finding the discarded trap, which may still pose a legitimate public safety hazard.

Going forward, SAW is requesting that the Town to take the following measures:

– Draft a comprehensive plan and earmark funding and resources for an educational pilot program geared at peacefully co-existing with wildlife in our town.

– Invest in shoring up our Animal Control division and offering more independence and resources to our Animal Control Officer to handle wildlife rescues and intakes in a manner that complies with federal and state laws and the ACO’s training and certifications.

– Respond swiftly with widespread public notification as soon as town officials become aware of illegal trapping and the presence of wildlife injured from trapping within or in close proximity to our municipal borders.

– Release a strong public statement against the use of illegal leg-hold and steel jaw traps.

Save Arlington Wildlife can assist the Town of Arlington in achieving these goals and hopes that these tragic incidents can serve as a powerful catalyst to reaching a better understanding of, and increased respect for, the wildlife we are fortunate to share our community with.**

UPDATE ON THE INJURED FOXES: The first fox remains at large and is injured and potentially missing a leg/paw. The second fox was rescued in a collaborative effort between Arlington Police Department, Arlington Animal Control, Lexington Police Department, Environmental Police, and Newhouse Wildlife Rescue–as well as several Lexington residents. The second fox (photographed above) was transported to Newhouse Wildlife Rescue and his front leg was amputated due to the extent of injuries incurred by the leg-hold trap. He will continue to be assessed to see if his is a viable candidate to be released back into the wild. He has been named Phoenix the fox due to his remarkable resilience. Deepest thanks and gratitude to all who were involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of Phoenix the fox.