Rat poison is going to be pulled from retail shelves
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (381756)
Rockingham, Australia
March 11, 2026 7:35pm CST
Some commercially available rat baits are being pulled from retail shelves following a directive from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority. Those listed as second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) will now only be sold to licensed operators, such as pest controllers.
SGARs are likely to be deadly to native reptiles, birds such as raptors and owls, and small native mammals that consume poisoned rodents.
The photo shows a friend drinking in an Irish hardware store with boxes of rat poison in the background. Being able to buy alcohol in retail stores was totally foreign to us. Our liquor laws are quite draconian.
19 people like this
15 responses
@rebelann (117196)
• El Paso, Texas
12 Mar
I wish someone would make it illegal to create poisons like these, everytime a rat or other rodent eats that stuff it poisons the 1st predator that eats it and then what ever eats that 1st predator is also poisoned, it's really nasty what the human race is doing to nature.
2 people like this
@LeaPea2417 (40020)
• Toccoa, Georgia
12 Mar
That is odd drinking with the rat poison behind.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (135583)
• Marion, Ohio
12 Mar
That is great news. I wish they would do that here too. It kills so many non target animals
1 person likes this
@AliCanary (4387)
•
12 Mar
Drinking in a hardware store is a super weird concept to me as an American, too. I'm glad rat poison is being pulled - it's a terrible threat to wildlife and a really awful way to die. Glue traps need to be banned, too - they are terribly cruel!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381756)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Mar
@AliCanary I take photos of all sorts of things. Just about anything that catches my eye.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (77064)
• Philippines
12 Mar
I remember one friend who was traveling in Melbourne and received some good news. He went to the liquor store to buy champagne but was told he couldn't drink it in public. He was planning to drink with another companion outside the streets.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86575)
• United States
12 Mar
There’s a warning about them here, that poisoning rats can end up poisoning birds who eat the carcass or cats who come in contact with the body. I use a “humane” trap…or, the better rat deterrent, keeping the neighborhood cats happy so they hang around.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (97912)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
12 Mar
Looks like a scene out of a Hitchcock film.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381756)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Mar
There are some cute traps that you can make yourself. We don't have a rat problem luckily,
@Ineeddentures (33875)
•
12 Mar
Aye
Draconian
Rat Poison is evil
It should not be widely available to anyone but pest controllers
1 person likes this
@Ineeddentures (33875)
•
12 Mar
@JudyEv
Good
Far too many Birds of Prey die every year because rat poison isn't used correctly
Or it's used purposely to kill Birds of Prey
1 person likes this
@ogbenishyna44 (1731)
•
15 Mar
Ho did they even get there in the first place? Those poisons should be sold in secluded places, not openly.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381756)
• Rockingham, Australia
16 Mar
Every country has different laws I guess regarding this.
