About poisonings

Published in About Animals

What to do if your pet ingests a poisonous substance, or if you come across dead animals and suspect poisoning as the cause.

Immediate steps to take:

1. If the animal is still alive, it should receive veterinary care as an emergency. if possible. Avoid handling the animal or any suspected poisoned material with bare hands.

2. If the animal is dead, the body should be disposed of with care. If you want to identify the cause of death, or for safe disposal, take it to the vet.

3. Look for any traces of the poison. If you find any, put them in a container without handling them with your bare hands. This might help the vet to identify the substance used. Any remaining poison should be removed to avoid further harm to non-target animals.

4. Note down as many details of the situation as you can, especially how the animal might have been poisoned and where and when the poisoning has happened. The information should be provided to the vet, also posted on social media platforms on the internet, in order to warn animal owners of the danger in the area.

And then:

The Law for the Protection of Animals is clear. Except in circumstances allowed for by law in an animal's best interests, it is against the law to kill animals, or cause them harm or pain in any way (DIO DRUGI OSNOVNE ODREDBE O ZAŠTITI ŽIVOTINJA Zabranjeni postupci u svrhu zaštite životinja Članak 5. (1) Zabranjeno je životinje usmrćivati, nanositi im bol, patnju i ozljede te ih namjerno izlagati strahu i bolestima protivno odredbama ovoga Zakona.)

If you decide to take action against the culprits or suspected culprits, you will have to:

1. Report the poisoning to the police and veterinarian with full details of the timing and location.

2. Provide proof that poison was the cause of death: an autopsy of the body is required.

3. The procedure is as follows: first of all, before the case is lodged, an application has to be made to the Court for the vet to organise the autopsy, in order to validate the evidence - without this Court order, the legal action will fail. The Court order and subsequent veterunary report are essential parts of the evidence which will be presented in the case.

4. Such cases are usually presented as being "against unknown perpetrators". If you have evidence incriminating certain people, they can be named as suspects.

Weigh up the pros and cons

There are more 'cons' than 'pros'. Legal action is likely to take a long time. Individuals or groups raising a case have to commit a lot of time and resources to it. All the evidence and possible proofs have to be gathered very precisely and accurately, including police and veterinary reports, witness accounts and any supporting evidence. A competent lawyer has to prepare it all in a coherent legal form to lodge in Court.

One would hope that a successful action resulting in punishment according to the law might act as a deterrent to others. However, there have been very few successful cases of this kind in Croatia to date. The punishments laid down in the law are anyway generally considered too mild. Back in 2012 the Association 'Animal Friends' ('Prijatelji životinja') proposed that a dedicated police force for the protection animals should be set up to provide quicker and more immediate action against people transgressing the animal protection law. More recently in June 2023 the Association lobbied the Ministry of Justice for changes in the Criminal Law (Kazneni zakon) to make punishments for animal cruelty more effective, with more demands from other animal protection associations lodged in September 2023 (links in Croatian).

Another factor to bear in mind is that if you are resident in a small place your legal action will inevitably arouse bad feelings and probably cause your neighbours to turn against you.

Why do animals get poisoned?

Poisons are widely used to control 'vermin' of all kinds. Rats, mice and slugs are the usual (legal) targets, but on Hvar it is common practice for hunters to spread poisons around the environment to cull the martens and other wild animals which might damage the game birds and their nests. (Note: the European pine marten (kuna zlatica) is a strictly protected species, but the poison is left in open spaces, regardless.)

Rodenticides commonly used in Croatia include products based on the active ingredients Brodifacoum and Bromadiolone, both of which are now banned in the EU as 'plant protection products', but are still allowed as biocides, at least for the time being.

Warning pictograms for Bromadiolone and Brodifacoum

Aluminium phosphide is another deadly substance used in rat poisons as well as insecticides, acaricides and as a fumigant. The most commonly used limacide on Hvar is Pužomor, whose active ingredient is Metaldehyde. It is highly toxic, not only to slugs and snails, but also animals and humans.

In practice, bans do not have much meaning. For instance, Ratimor rodenticide products were banned as 'plant protection products' in July 2013, and some time later were excluded from the Ministry of Health list of permitted biocides (see our article 'Pesticides, Laws and Permits' for an explanation of the pesticide categories). In January 2019 I chanced upon a man buying a number of large packets of Ratimor poison in a place which definitely was not authorized to sell such pesticides. Demand on Hvar seems to be high, so perhaps it is not surprising if there is also a black market for them.

Casual attitudes to poisons.

Rat poison is distributed free of charge to Hvar islanders in flimsy containers without adequate safety instructions or practical safeguards. In the past it was even stated by the implementing firm that animals other than rats and mice would not touch it, because it was treated with an aroma which repelled them. This was untrue: some friends in Pitve came home one day to find their young dogs dead after eating the poison which the distributors had left on a windowsill; I once witnessed young cats eating the poison in an inaccessible courtyard.

Poison distributed at random in cellophane bags

For a long time the poison was distributed indiscriminately to households in cellophane packets and left all over the place, once even on my car! It came in granule form together with a tablet intended for septic tanks which had no antidote. Nowadays the rat poison is given to householders who want it in person, packed in thin cardboard boxes which disintegrate if used outdoors.

Flimsy cardboard boxes are unsafe

The practice of distributing rodenticides to householders on Hvar is surprising, as the regulations which govern the pest control programme specifically state in Article 20 that poisonous substances must not be given to end-users of the compulsory pest control measures for use without control. (Pravilnik o načinu provedbe obvezatne dezinfekcije, dezinsekcije i deratizacije članak 20.)

Examples of irresponsible carelessness include:

- a householder in Pitve throwing half-empty boxes of rat poison into a garden which was accessible to any passing animal (or child);

Half-used rat poison boxes discarded in an open garden

- a worker from the pest control firm casually lobbing large cubes of deadly rat poison around the Vehicle Testing Centre in Vrbanj and across the land beside the building, where clients often wait with their dogs;

Rat poison tablet in the open land beside the Vrbanj Vehicle Testing Centre

- housekeepers placing sachets of poison around properties, but forgetting to remove them or warn of their presence before the owners and their dogs arrived;.

Rat poison sachet left under a bed in the owner's absence.

Not only in Croatia. Accidental poisonings can happen anywhere. A friend in Austria went through a frightening experience in a restaurant, where her dog chewed through a plastic container of no less than three rat poisons under the table; emergency veterinary treatment was administered immediately, but the owner still had an agonising wait for a month until it was certain that there were no ill-effects, as one of the three poisons was slow-acting.

Changes can and should be made.

1. Poisons should not be seen as the best answer to controlling pests. Poisons have significant disadvantages:

i. their effect on pest populations is only temporary, as it is impossible to kill all the targeted creatures.

ii. frequent use engenders resistance, for instance producing extra-large 'super-rats';

iii. collateral damage can happen, poisoning unintended victims;

iv. they may be used illegitimately against creatures other than those allowed in law.

2. More control should be exerted over the distribution of all chemical poisons, especially those which are toxic for animals and humans.

3. Potentially fatal poisons including raticides, insecticides and limacides sold in supermarkets and shops of any kind should not be displayed on open shelves.

4. There should be prominent warning signs highlighting the possible ill-effects of such poisons, the current labelling requirements are inadequate.

5. Sales of all chemical poisons should be controlled, with records kept of buyers, their usage and how they dispose of packaging.

Finding a positive approach

Ingested poisons cause unbearable suffering to animals, as to humans. If your pet is poisoned, whether accidentally or deliberately, it is natural to feel angry and to want the perpetrators to be punished. It is also natural to be afraid of the tragedy being repeated. Revenge will not bring your pet back; it probably will not prevent future poisonings; it may lead to repercussions against you, your family, your property, and any other animals in your care.

Try to keep as calm as possible, and work out the most positive way of dealing with the situation. Fear and anger are negative emotions. Negativity breeds negativity and can be harmful to your mental and physical health. Everyone has to deal with personal tragedies in their own way. One possible positive reaction is to feel pity for the benighted poisoners who have no understanding of the interdependence between ourselves and all other beings on the earth. From feeling pity it is easier to move towards full forgiveness for the wrong done to you and your animal(s). Forgiveness from the heart marks the pathway to shaking off the negativity which otherwise can poison your mind long after the tragic event. Another way to give the experience a positive purpose is to campaign for better control over the sale and use of all the available poisons, and for stronger legal measures to deter would-be animal poisoners.

˙© Vivian Grisogono MA(Oxon) 2024.

You are here: Home about animals About poisonings

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Revealed: Edelman worked for Brazilian trade group accused of pushing for environmental rollbacks in Amazon

    Edelman, the world’s largest public relations agency, is in talks to work with the Cop30 team organising the UN climate summit in the Amazon later this year despite its prior connections to a major trade group accused of lobbying to roll back measures to protect the area from deforestation, the Guardian and the Centre for Climate Reporting can reveal.

    The summit is set to take place in November in the city of Belém on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, which has been ravaged by deforestation linked to Brazil’s powerful agriculture industry. For the first time, the talks will be “at the epicenter of the climate crisis”, the summit’s president wrote last week. “As the Cop comes to the Amazon, forests will naturally be a central topic,” he added.

    Continue reading...

  • Energy security and net zero secretary travels to Beijing for countries’ first formal climate meetings since 2017

    Ed Miliband has accused the previous Conservative government of negligence for failing to engage with China on climate issues, as he travelled to Beijing for the countries’ first formal climate meetings since 2017.

    The secretary of state for energy security and net zero was in Beijing to announce a new annual UK-China climate dialogue. The first summit will take place in London later this year. China’s minister of ecology and environment, Huang Runqiu, is expected to attend.

    Continue reading...

  • After years of helping Scottish criminal investigations and despite fearing for his life in India, Vishal Sharma’s asylum claim has been rejected

    When Vishal Sharma, an experienced merchant seaman, arrived in London from India in November 2017, he was looking forward to a good job on a Belgian tanker, the MT Waasmunster, assisting engineers. He had a 15-month contract and a transit visa, enabling him to travel to Milford Haven in Wales, where the 174-metre vessel was anchored.

    But in a last-minute change of plan, his Mumbai agent told him to head to Southwick in West Sussex, England, to board a scallop trawler, the Noordzee.

    Continue reading...

  • Village joins continental network alongside nearby Knepp estate, as birds previously extinct in Britain flourish

    The Saxons knew the West Sussex village of Storrington as Estorchestone, the “abode of the storks”.

    But the graceful white birds disappeared from its skies more than 600 years ago, when they became extinct in Britain.

    Continue reading...

  • In the 1960s, the Swiss had some of the dirtiest water in Europe. Now, their cities boast pristine rivers and lakes – and other countries are looking to follow their lead

    In the first days of spring, people flock to Lake Geneva’s broad, tree-lined promenade, their faces tilted towards the sun. Dior, Cartier and Rolex are among the high-end shopfronts overlooking the water. René Rottenberg, 75, has just finished his 400m swim through this upmarket urban jungle – a ritual he repeats up to five times a week, even in midwinter.

    For the retired gynaecologist, being able to swim in the crystal-clear water is the greatest luxury. “It’s just so fun,” he says. “The place is beautiful.”

    Continue reading...

  • Gulls are known for being ravenous – check out a selection of things they like

    • All images from the Gulls Eating Stuff project

    From profiteroles to moles: project uncovers gulls’ surprising diet

    Continue reading...

  • From the earthquake-defying joints that support a 13th-century temple to the delicacy of sashimono puzzle boxes, a new exhibition shows off the myriad possibilities of this centuries-old craft

    Do you know your ant’s head from your shell mouth? Or your cogged lap from your scarfed gooseneck? These are just some of the mind-boggling array of timber jointing techniques on display in a new exhibition spotlighting the meticulous craft of Japanese carpentry. The basement gallery of London’s Japan House has been transformed into a woody wonder world of chisels and saws, mortises and tenons, and brackets of infinite intricacy, alongside traditional clay plastering, shoji paper screen making and tatami mat weaving. It is a dazzling display of the phenomenal skills behind centuries of timber architecture and joinery, celebrating elite master carpenters with the spiritual reverence of a high priesthood.

    “In Japan we have a deep respect for our forests,” says curator Nishiyama Marcelo, who heads up the team at the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum in Kobe, a temple to the history of Japanese joinery. “If a carpenter uses a 1,000-year-old tree, they must be prepared to take on more than 1,000 years of responsibility for the building that they create.”

    It is a momentous duty, and one we should heed. As debates around the embodied carbon of the built environment dominate the construction industry, there could be no more timely exhibition to remind us of the importance of designing with longevity, care and repair in mind. Numerous specialist tools have been shipped over from the Kobe museum, along with a team of master carpenters who have built a remarkable series of structures in the gallery, replicating parts of buildings that have lasted for hundreds of years in the face of wind, rain, snow and earthquakes.

    Continue reading...

  • Three years ago, when I was stuck in a traffic jam, I decided to stop to visit a park I’d passed by many times. Now, I go there at least one morning a week

    I must have passed it 100 times. Until one day in 2022, stuck in Melbourne traffic, I glanced towards the park in Bayside and saw mist rising from the trees, as if they had just exhaled into the dawn sunlight. This sight cheered me, lifting the pall of the workday grind ahead. Right then I made a resolution to interrupt my commute at least once a week by visiting the park and I have kept to it ever since.

    The next day I left the stream of traffic, parked the car and walked into the park, skirting the cricket oval where dogs chase sassy swallows skimming the grass just out of reach. Past there is a quiet pond where you will find ducks and turtles, and beside it is one of those forgotten patches of land where nature gets to do her thing unhindered.

    Continue reading...

  • Hundreds of millions of pilgrims flocked to the Ganges for this year’s festival, housed in a sprawling temporary metropolis stretching across 4,000 hectares of the floodplains of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh

    For 45 days the floodplains of Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh known as Allahabad until 2018, were a churning sea of humanity. Millions waded into the freezing waters of the sangam – the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, plus a mythical one, the Saraswati – believing that a single dip could wash away a lifetime of sin.

    From dawn until well past midnight, the riverbanks teemed with saffron-clad sadhus, bare-chested pilgrims and families clutching brass urns, garlands and clay lamps, an unceasing tide of pilgrims.

    Pilgrims performing one of the rituals associated with the ‘holy water’ of the rivers at this year’s Kumbh Mela

    Continue reading...

  • Since Dutton became opposition leader, the billionaire mining magnate has cultivated their bond. We look back at their increasingly close relationship

    The buzz from Gina Rinehart’s 70th birthday party was reportedly “so spectacular” that it drifted across the Swan River from the mining magnate’s Perth home, catching the attention of people more than a kilometre away.

    Four hundred guests, mostly employees, had gathered to mark the milestone of the Hancock Prospecting head, who is deferentially referred to as “the Chairman” or “Mrs Rinehart”.

    Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds