Barn owls (Tyto alba) and the "second generation" rat baits utilised in oil palm plantations in Peninsular Malaysia [rodenticides]
1984
Duckett, J.E.
In the process Barn Owls played a constructive complementary role, where they were adequately present, in an integrated rat control system in oil palms where the use of Warfarin based baits provided the main thrust of such integrated control. The successful occupation was due to the tolerance to secondary ingestion of the Warfarin based bait. Adult and young owls were unaffected by residual Warfarin via secondary poisoning from poisoned, but still living, rats ingested by them as food. It was further postulated that the only possible effect of such secondary ingestion of the poison was that a clutch of eggs, produced at the time of a major baiting round, could be added but there was no evidence produced to confirm this and the postulation was made a "a worst possible circumstance" indication. It had been noted that danger may arise if new generation poisons were required to maintain superiority over rat populations
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