By Carissa S .
Rat Po i so n
The environmental impact that rat poison causes can be devastating . If a mouse or rat eats rat poison and dies , a larger predator may eat the rat and die . Birds of prey are at high risk for this happening . Birds like the Bald Eagle , Falcon , and many other species are dying by secondary poisoning . They live off killing mice and when they eat an infected mouse , their life is over .
In some cases , dogs and cats will die because of eating an infected rat or mouse . On the Tomcat website I was able to read about the type of poison they use . It states on the website that it takes 1-2 days before a mouse dies from the poison . It takes 2-36 hours before you may start seeing the first neurological signs in your pet or wild animal that the poison is working . It may start with paralysis , seizures , tremors , weakness , lethargy , ataxia ( imbalance or poor coordination ), and eventually death .
That is why I think we should make rat poison illegal for sale . Many pet owners have lost pets due to this tragic cycle . I believe we can make a difference by not allowing homeowners or extermination businesses to use this as their pest control method . There are other ways to get rid of pests other than using a neurotoxin to kill these animals and countless innocent animals .
Just recently my family was put through one of the worst experiences of our lives . We recently moved into a new house and were working on house renovations . When my brother walked inside to get some supplies for cleaning the garage , he saw our 6-pound toy poodle eating a block of Tomcat rat poison . He did not know what she was eating , though , because our family has never used rat poison , so neither he nor I knew what it looked like . He decided to ask our mom if she knew what the dog was eating , and she immediately knew what it was .
Thankfully , a friend of the family was visiting at the time and was beginning to pull out of the driveway when this happened . She was able to immediately rush my mom and my dog to the emergency room .
After the veterinarian pumped my dog ? s stomach and gave her large amounts of charcoal , my mom was allowed to take her home . Even though she had not had visible symptoms , we were still waiting for the 36-hour benchmark . I would never wish anyone to go through what my family went through with this . Even though our sweet dog pulled through , I want to make a change . You can help me make this change if you sign my petition to end the sale of rat poisons . The link to my change . org petition is
http :// chng . it / HP4zJFk4 .
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