One of the biggest fears of those that deal with wildlife crime is that sooner or later a member of the public will be killed in a poisoning incident.

A number of poisons are used illegally to kill both birds and mammals in the countryside. Some of the most popular are cyanide, strychnine bendiocarb, carbofuran, aldicarb and mevinphos. All of them are dangerous to humans and animals and none of them can be possessed legally for ‘pest control’.

The use of cyanide gas to kill badgers in their sett has long been a favourite with those who don’t have to energy to go badger baiting or access to gallons of slurry to pump in. When setts are gassed they are ‘soft stopped’ which means that the entrances are blocked off to stop the gas leaking out. This is usually done using a feed sack filled with earth to create a seal and then loose earth is piled on top. The risk here is that a member of the public concerned for the badgers welfare could unstop the entrance and be poisoned by the escaping gas. It is also worth noting that many badger tunnels are just below the surface and it is possible to break through accidentally when walking over a sett. This could also result in a gas escape and human death.

Poisoned baits that are set in the countryside, usually for raptors, but also for mammals are particularly dangerous. A quick look at available records over the past ten years revealed a terrible catalogue of over 1000 poisoned cats and dogs as well, of course as the many wild birds and mammals that were actually the poisoner’s target. The dog numbers are probably fairly accurate as they usually walk in the presence of their owners but for cats, foxes and birds of prey the recorded numbers are almost certainly just the tip of the iceberg.

The risk to humans is huge. Some of these poisons can be ingested via the skin so that merely touching a poisoned bait could result in severe illness or death. Remember that many of these baits are set out in remote areas where help might be a long time away and you begin to realise just how dangerous this practice is.

In spite of these poisons being banned for ‘pest control’ they still regularly turn up in toxicology tests on dead mammals and birds and are regularly found in sheds. kitchens, quad bike baskets, ATV glove boxes, game bags etc, etc during searches of gamekeepers properties.

The continued illegal possession of these poisons by some land managers is a problem that needs to be addressed further. The risk to humans when poisoned baits are scattered about the countryside is one that is little mentioned. We feel it needs to be better publicised and ruthless enforcement action taken. This needs to happen before rather than after the almost inevitable human fatality. It might even prevent it.