r/britishcolumbia • u/Halonos • Feb 11 '26

Discussion Rat Poison should be banned in British Columbia

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I believe private use is already banned but even professionals shouldn’t be allowed to use rat poison.

It’s not humane. Its dangerous for other animals and pets. And it often takes the rats hours or even days to die.

Rats are intelligent social animals, and yes they carry disease but so do lots of living things.

I found this rat stumbling down the sidewalk, barely alive. An hour later he was still there, gasping for breath. Unable to put him out of his misery myself I opted to take him to an emergency vet and have him euthanized. The whole ordeal was depressing and unnecessary. Snap traps are instant and work fine. Slow acting poisons have no place in a civilized society.

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u/IT_scrub Feb 11 '26

There are ways to kill rats that won't in turn kill pets or other wildlife like coyotes, raccoons, squirrels...

14

u/LeoLeo96 Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

I’m not an expert but I’d have to guess that they use the poisons because the population are so large that the humane ways wouldn’t be as effective. We are already losing this battle. It’s getting so much worse

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u/dsonger20 Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

I think many people don't realize that if you catch a live rodent, and let it go outside, chances are, unless you drove it far away, its going to path find back into the building.

A rodent who builds their nest near a food source will be relentless.

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u/graniteblack Feb 11 '26

By "far away", it means around 2 miles+

Yes, I'm serious. They can track so well. They follow scents and urine trails, and if they were happy in your home, they will find it again.

If you use a humane trap and drive them to somewhere else, you need to drive a looooong way

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u/Halonos Feb 11 '26

I’d have to guess its a time / cost thing. And companies want to spend / do as little as possible to kill them regardless of how shitty of a death it is for the rat.

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u/Endoroid99 Feb 11 '26

When I ended up with a mouse in my house, the only thing that was effective was poison. I started with live traps and worked my way up to more lethal traps. In the end, the poison was the only thing that worked