Grass is not always greener: rodenticide exposure of a threatened species near marijuana growing operations

Authors

Alan B. Franklin, USDA-APHIS-WS National Wildlife Research CenterFollow
Peter C. Carlson, Colorado State University - Fort CollinsFollow
Angela Rex, Colorado State University - Fort Collins
Jeremy T. Rockwelt, Colorado State University - Fort Collins
David Garza, Colorado State University - Fort Collins
Emily Culhane, Colorado State University - Fort Collins
Steven F. Volker, USDA-APHIS-WS National Wildlife Research CenterFollow
Robert J. Dusek, National Wildlife Health Center
Valerie I. Shearn-Bochsler, National Wildlife Health CenterFollow
Mourad W. Gabriel, Integral Ecology Research Center
Katherine E. Horak, National Wildlife Health Center

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2018

Citation

BMC Res Notes (2018) 11:94

Comments

© The Author(s) 2018

Open access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-018-3206-z

Abstract

Marijuana (Cannabis spp.) growing operations (MGO) in California have increased substantially since the mid-1990s. One environmental side-effect of MGOs is the extensive use of anticoagulant rodenticides (AR) to prevent damage to marijuana plants caused by wild rodents. In association with a long-term demographic study, we report on an observation of brodifacoum AR exposure in a threatened species, the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), found freshly dead within 669–1347 m of at least seven active MGOs.