Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Is Sensitivity To Anticoagulant Rodenticides Affected By Repeated Exposure In Hawks?, Barnett A. Rattner, Rebecca S. Lazarus, Thomas G. Bean, Katherine E. Horak,, Steven F. Volker, Julia Lankton

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A seminal question in wildlife toxicology is whether exposure to an environmental contaminant, in particular a secondgeneration anticoagulant rodenticide, can evoke subtle long lasting effects on body condition, physiological function and survival. Many reports indicate that non-target predators often carry residues of several rodenticides, which is indicative of multiple exposures. An often-cited study in laboratory rats demonstrated that exposure to the second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide brodifacoum prolongs blood clotting time for a few days, but weeks later when rats were re-exposed to the first-generation anticoagulant rodenticide warfarin, coagulopathy was more pronounced in brodifacoum-treated rats than naïve rats exposed to warfarin. To …